Blog

E/M-Banking for Financial Inclusion in India: Opportunities and Challenges

Posted on by MSC

In 2012 Ignacio Mas worked with MSC to look at the state of digital financial services in India, the type of products that poor people want, and the role of microfinance institutions/SHGs in digital financial services systems. Ignacio also ran a training for all MSC staff, and we then asked him to record some of his thoughts on digital financial services systems and not just in India but also worldwide. In this video he answers the following questions:

What are the opportunities offered by digital financial services systems in India – for poor people and for the government?
How do we respond to the challenge of scale in India?
How do we create real value for poor customers in India?

Creating an Effective Marketing Strategy

Posted on by MSC

In this video Graham A. N. Wright, Group Managing Director, MicroSave, talks about the need for marketing in E-/M Banking. He emphasises that marketing needs to work on educating customers and create trust and awareness for product uptake. Following his presentation, M Yasmina McCarty, Mobile Money for the Unbanked Senior Manager, GSMA, highlights the challenges faced while marketing mobile money and driving customer usage. She throws light on best practices as they have emerged for mobile network operators as they address these challenges.

Saddling Up a Dead Horse: Financial Inclusion in India

Posted on by MSC

The no-frills accounts (NFA) focussed approach to financial inclusion has so far been largely ineffectual. What is really needed is a change of perspective. Providers need to think of the BC model as a “distributed banking model” rather than as a “financial inclusion drive” to meet regulatory compulsions or social objectives. In a branch of a nationalised bank in India, where all credit and savings products were being delivered through the BCs, there was not just an increase in business due to what was directly brought in by the BCs, but even an increase in regular walk-in business. Financial inclusion will naturally follow the establishment of an efficient, distributed banking channel.

Responsible Finance

Posted on by Parul Tandon

The Responsible Finance is the ninth publication under the Optimising Performance and Efficiency (OPE) Series. The OPE Series brings together key insights and ideas on specific topics, with clear objective of providing microfinance practitioners with practical and actionable advice.

This Responsible Finance Booklet brings together a set of brief publications which dredge into Client Protection Principles, poverty measurement and promoting client centric delivery models which lead to sustainable development. MicroSave’s rich sectoral expertise and extensive knowledge database of publications in the booklet highlights many of the opportunities, needs, issues and challenges of the poor.

Clients Speak on Client Protection- Findings from ASKI- the Philippines

Posted on by MSC

Research team from MicroSave and ASKI conducted 24 FGDs with both urban and rural microfinance clients in the Philippines to measure the importance and relevance of client protection principles. Clients were also asked to rate ASKI on its adherence to each of the 7 CPPs. The key findings were- clients affirmed the importance of all seven CPPs. ‘Fair and Respectful Treatment of the Clients’ and ‘Appropriate Product Design and Delivery’ are the two most valued CPPs. ASKI was highly rated by clients on its adherence to CPPs with a high score of 2.91 on a 3.0 point rating scale.

Remittances through M-Banking Customer Perspectives: Observations from India

Posted on by MSC

MicroSave studied major remittance corridors in India – Bihar/UP – Punjab, Orissa/Bihar – Gujrat, and found that multitude of players exist in the domestic market, though the banks are preferred channel. The presentation highlights findings from the study, including product features that will drive product use. Mr Manoj Sharma, Director, MicroSave, presented findings of the research at a workshop conducted by Axis Bank and Asian Development Bank in Mumbai.