M-Shwari: Market Reactions and Potential Improvements

This Microsave report examines initial market perceptions to M-Shwari, a mobile banking service that allows M-PESA customers to borrow money and apply for emergency loans directly through th…

The Impact of Electronic Payments on Economic Growth (2013)

A study by Moody’s Analytics that looked at the impact of increased card penetration on the private consumption of 56 countries over five years.

Incentives for the Introduction of Agents by Banca de las Oportunidades in Colombia

Payment Cards and Economic Growth: The Positive Economic Impact of Digital Currency

Moody’s Economy.com recently completed a study to measure the economic impact of the shift from cash and checks to digital currency in 51 economies worldwide….

Unlocking the Potential-Women and Mobile Financial Services in Emerging Markets

This report offers insights on women’s needs for financial management tools and use of mobile financial services in Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Tanzania. It also contain…

An Overview of the G2P Payments Sector in Pakistan

Aadhaar: Digital Inclusion and Public Services in India

Aadhaar, India’s program to provide a unique identity number for every resident, is the largest biometric identification program in the world. Launched in 2008, the program has created biome…

Visa Delivers the Benefits of Electronic Payments to the Trucking Industry in Brazil

In Brazil, the trucking industry has relied on a paper-based “freight letter” system for paying truck drivers’ salaries. Aside from operational inefficiencies, this method subjected cargo co…

New Technologies in Cash Transfer Programming and Humanitarian Assistance

The research examines the constraints to the uptake of these technologies in humanitarian programming, and has identified barriers to wider adoption of new technology that can be broadly gr…

The Solidaridad Visa Prepaid Card Brings Relief to Dominican Citizens in Need

Millions of people in the Dominican Republic struggle with poverty and hunger. In the past, distributing food, fuel and medicine was slow, expensive and often didn’t reach the intended recip…

Plugging into Mobile Money Platforms: Early Experiences of NGOs in the Field

This focus note reviews early lessons for NGOs from the field. It explores three central questions: Does initial evidence support the notion that mobile money is a cheaper, faster, and more …

Banking with mobile phones in Haiti: A report on a T-cash pilot program

This report describes the experience of Catholic Relief Services Haiti in employing a new mobile phone–based banking service, T-Cash. This service was adopted on a pilot basis to improve CRS…

G2P: Expanding Financial Inclusion in the Pacific Report

This case study examines the transition of 25,000 social welfare beneficiares to electronic payments: how the decision was made; how donors, government and private sector cooperated; the st…

Bansefi Visa Debit and Prepaid Cards Create “Oportunidades” for Mexico ’s Financially Underserved

The largest social program in Mexico, Oportunidades, distributes benefits to 6.5 million people. The government-owned Bank of National Savings and Financial Services (Bansefi) was looking fo…

Kenya Case Studies in e-Payments

This document describes four case studies on the use of mobile money in Kenya, covering use by a government ministry (The Ministry of Lands), an NGO implementing partner of USAID (PACT), a g…

Zap It to Me: The Short-Term Impacts of a Mobile Cash Transfer Program

Conditional and unconditional cash transfers have been effective in improving development outcomes in a variety of contexts, yet the costs of these programs to program recipients and impleme…

Building a Mobile Money Distribution Network in Papua New Guinea

The report looks at the opportunity to build a nation-wide electronic money network in PNG, where 90% of the population was unbanked. It highlights the cost and opportunities to public and …

World Bank Presents Outcomes of the Global Payment Systems Survey 2010

The underlying foundation of a country’s financial system – including all institutions, information, technologies, rules and standards that enable financial intermediation – is its “financia…

Beneficiary Perceptions and Attitudes in Fiji: Facilitating Migration from Paper-based to Electronic Benefit Distribution

This study exams the real and perceived constraints social welfare beneficiaries and low income households face in using formal banking services. The study was done to inform the government…

Visa Streamlines Distribution of Child Support Payments in Nebraska

Distributing benefits, such as child support, unemployment and disability assistance, has been transformed by the use of prepaid cards. Instead of mailing paper checks, 40 states now use Vis…