M-Pesa is a Small-Value Electronic Payment and Store of Value System that is Accessible from Ordinary Mobile Phones. It Has Seen Exceptional Growth Since its Introduction by Mobile Phone Operator Safaricom in Kenya in March 2007: It Has Already Been Adopted by 9 Million Customers (Corresponding...

Retail payment systems require scale to get off the ground and struggle to grow incrementally, as they need to build trust, reap network effects and overcome chicken-and-egg problems of acquiring both customers and merchants. To overcome these barriers, they must (i) create enough urgency in...

About 2.7bn people in the world rely on cash, physical assets and informal services to manage their financial lives. This could change thanks to initiatives encouraged by the G20, such as the guidance paper on financial inclusion released last June by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The...

Branchless Banking allows customers to access financial services beyond bank branches and thereby holds the promise of addressing two major hurdles to financial inclusion: lack of proximity and high costs. It builds on the sustained development of mobile telecommunications which makes it...

In the financial sector, regulators focus primarily on stability, predictability, and avoiding shocks. The recent financial crisis led many commentators to speak out on the difficulty, if not the failure, regulators had in controlling innovation, which had damaging consequences not only for the...

Payments are the connective tissue of an economic system. They enable people to buy goods, purchase water and electricity, and send money to friends, family, and business partners. They enable governments to collect taxes and disburse social payments. And they enable suppliers to collect...