Digital financial services are an essential part of our work. We empower financial institutions, FinTechs, regulators, and ecosystem players to harness the power of digital solutions, so they can reach underserved markets, improve operations, and deliver customer-centric solutions at scale. For more than two decades, we have designed, implemented, and validated digital financial services that are inclusive, responsible, and sustainable.
We combine human-centered design with deep customer insights to develop solutions in digital credit, savings, insurance, and payment customized to meet the needs of people from the low- and moderate-income segments. From embedded finance to mobile banking, we pilot, refine, and scale products with usability, trust, and affordability at the core.
We strengthen the last-mile delivery of financial services through robust agent networks, branchless banking models, and digital channels. We enhance agent recruitment and train, onboard, and monitor agents to ensure their long-term sustainability in partnership with mobile network operators and technology platforms.
We help institutions reimagine their core systems, automate processes, adopt paperless onboarding, integrate FinTech, and shore up the digital architecture needed for scale. The goal is operational efficiency, reduced cost of service, and reliable service delivery.
Our engagement with central banks, regulators, and policy bodies shapes enabling environments for digital finance. This includes policy design, regulatory technology (RegTech and SupTech solutions), consumer protection standards, and frameworks to ensure transparency, fairness, and accountability.
We expand access to finance for potential borrowers through alternative data, inclusive credit scoring, and responsible risk frameworks. Our models incorporate explainability and bias checks to help lenders reach MSMEs, first-time borrowers, informal workers, and other underserved groups.
Through our Helix Institute of Digital Finance and in-country training programs, we build the capabilities of leaders, practitioners, and field agents. Our practical, context-rich sessions are designed for practical and lasting impact and cover digital finance strategy, agent network management, customer protection, and product innovation.
What we do
FinTech and digital lending have carved out new pathways for financial inclusion. Yet, underserved populations across Asia and Africa continue to stare down at persistent barriers.
MSC has deep global expertise in mobile financial services (MFS) delivered through agent networks, which spans strategic design, implementation, and scaling across multiple continents.
FAQ
A digital financial services (DFS) consulting firm helps banks, microfinance institutions, FinTechs, mobile network operators, regulators, and development organizations design, launch, and scale digital financial products. Services typically include agent network strategy, merchant ecosystem development, mobile money product design, digital transformation advisory, policy-level support, alternative credit scoring, and capacity building. MSC is a specialist DFS consulting firm with more than 25 years of experience across Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.
MSC operates across Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. In Asia, we have particular expertise across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Brunei. We also work across South Asia, including India and Pakistan. In Africa, we work extensively across East Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Rwanda. We also have a strong presence in West Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as Southern Africa. We bring global perspective and deep local market knowledge to every engagement, with offices in more than 11 countries and 25+ years of on-the-ground experience.
Agent banking is a model where financial service providers use third-party retail agents, such as shopkeepers, pharmacies, or post offices, to deliver banking services. These services include cash-in cash-out (CICO), account opening, loan disbursement, and government payment collection. MSC is a global leader in agent network design and management. We support the full agent network lifecycle, which spans recruitment criteria, training and certification, float management, performance monitoring tools, and gender-inclusive network design. We have conducted agent network assessments across 14 countries in Asia and Africa.
MSC helps financial institutions (FIs) design and scale merchant payment ecosystems from the ground up. Our support covers the full merchant journey, and spans market assessment, merchant segmentation, go-to-market strategy, onboarding, training, pricing design, and partnership development. We help FIs identify the right merchant categories, build compelling value propositions that drive adoption, and establish the operational and risk management frameworks needed for sustainable scale. We also support the integration of merchant payment data into credit scoring models. This enables FIs to extend digital credit to merchants based on their transaction history and reach a significant underserved market segment.
MSC supports FinTech companies at multiple stages of their growth. For early-stage FinTechs, we provide market research, customer segmentation, and product design through human-centered design methodology. For scaling FinTechs, we support distribution strategy, network expansion, partnership development, and regulatory engagement. We also help FinTechs access grant funding and technical assistance from development finance institutions and donors. Our embedded finance and alternative credit scoring advisory is particularly relevant for FinTechs that serve informal workers, microenterprises, and smallholder farmers.
The Helix Institute of Digital Finance is MSC’s specialized training and capacity-building arm for digital financial services practitioners. Helix offers masterclasses, practitioner courses, and custom in-country training programs. These programs cover digital finance strategy, agent network management, mobile money operations, consumer protection, and DFS product innovation. Helix has trained thousands of practitioners from banks, mobile network operators, regulators, and donor organizations across Asia and Africa.
