micro savings maximum impact - wsbi-esbg...tutions types include a credit institution, a savings and...

MicroSavings Maximum Impact

Savings and Retail Banking in AfricaResults from 2018 WSBI member bank survey

Savings and Retail Banking in AfricaResults from 2018 WSBI member bank survey

page 5

Foreword 6

1. Introduction 8

2. Summary 12

3. State of Savings and Retail Banking in Africa 14 3.1. Usability 14 3.1.1. Whatdofinancialinstitutionsoffer? 16

3.1.2. Whatarethechallenges? 20

3.1.3. Whatdoesitmeanforsavingsandretailbanks? 25

3.2. Affordability 26 3.2.1. Whatdofinancialinstitutionsoffer? 27



3.3. Accessibility 32 3.3.1. Whatdofinancialinstitutionsoffer? 34



3.4. Sustainability 42 3.4.1. Whatdofinancialinstitutionsoffer? 43



4. Conclusion 46

5. Annexes 48 5.1. Background 48 5.2. Methodology 52 5.3. Completesurvey 54 5.4. Glossary 55

6. Acknowledgments 56

Table of contents

page 7ForewordForeword

Banks in Africa face unprecedented challenges. A demographic “youthbulge”,pooreducationalopportunity,andlimitedaccesstofinancemakethecontinent prone to economicmalaise and societal struggle.Compoundingthesearedigitalisationandglobalisation,powerful forcesthataffectAfrica’s1.2 billion inhabitants in newways. Like other regions of theworld, Africalooks to financial institutions like savings and retail banks to help addressmost,ifnotall,oftheseobstaclesatlocallevel,inswellingcitiesandremoteruralareasalike. EspeciallydauntingforbanksisAfrica’spopulation,settoquadruplebycen-tury’send.Amongthemanychallengesthatpopulationgrowthwillpresentisthe need to serve peoples’ financial needs better at themacro levelwhileconnectingbetterwithpeopleatthemicrolevel.Thequestionishow?Theanswer isofferingproductsandservicesbasedoncustomerneedthatareusable,affordable,accessibleandsustainable.Whiledoingso,bankshavetoremainviablebusinessesthatreceiveafairreturn.Aprimeexampleishowbesttooffermuch-neededlow-balancesavingsaccounts.

Findingwaystomakeviablelow-balancesavingsaccountsworkrequiresacustomer-orientedapproachthatentailsapproachesthatareoftenmisunder-stoodbyformalfinancialserviceprovidersworldwide.Africanbanksarenodifferent.Theyrightlyseegreatpotentialtobuildouta“savingsmarket”basedonpeople fromvarious low-incomesegments.This report’s findings revealthatcustomerandpotentialcustomerneeds–andhowmuchtheycanaffordto pay tomeet those needs – are inadequately reflected in their businessmodelsandintheirinteractionswithcustomers.Theresult:thecustomerex-periencefallsshort,givingrisetoextremelyhighincidencesofdormancyandinactivityinbankaccounts,whichrepresentsasignificantdrainoncosts.Thatresultdisqualifiespotentialsustainablebusinesscasesthatseniorexecutiveswithinbankscrave.Bringingtomarketaccessiblefinancialservicestopeoplebecomesmoreelusive.

Giventhepopulation-drivenfutureofAfrica,thequestion arises whether banks in the regioncanmeet the growing needs of people there.Bankscan.Accordingto theMcKinseyGlobalBanking2017report,theAfricanbankingsec-torisamongthemostdynamicintheworld,thesecond-bestperformingglobalbankingmarketintermsofgrowthandprofitabilityaswellasahome to significant innovation.Other researchshowsthatretailbankinginAfricahashugepo-tential.Thosebanksalreadydeployavastsetoftoolsandnewbusinessmod-elstoofferbankingservicesthataddresstheneedtowidenfinancialinclusion,which remainsstubbornly low throughout thecontinent.Forexample,nearlythreefifthsofSub-SaharanAfricansareunbanked,andnearlyhalfofthoselivinginNorthAfricalackabasicbankaccount.Africansusecashexcessivelytoo,whichcanhindereconomicgrowthandsocietalstability.

Despitelowbankingpenetrationrates,2017GlobalFindex1drawssomehope.Datafromitshowfinancial inclusioninAfricahasimprovedgreatly,drivenbydigitalpayments,governmentpolicies,andanewgenerationoffinancialser-vicesaccessedthroughmobilephonesandtheinternet.Abulgingyouthdemo-graphicinAfricawillbenefitgreatlyfromthosebreakthroughs.WSBImemberbanks, industryexpertsandpolicymakerswonderwhethersavingsandretailbanksareideallyplacedtohelpthenextgenerationofadultsbuildagrowing,prosperousAfrica.Thisreportprovidesinsighttohelpanswerthatquestion.

ThefindingsofthisannualreportonsavingsandretailbankinginAfricapro-videauniqueandusefulanalysisofwhatasampleofWSBImemberbanksfacewhenitcomestosmall-balancesavingsaccountsprovision.Tobepub-lishedannuallystarting thisyear, thereport isan integralpartof theScale-2Save2programme,apartnershipwithMastercardFoundation3 launchedin2016. Theprogrammeaddresses the issueof highpoverty rates, financialexclusion,andlowformalsavingsratesinAfrica.Partoftheprogrammean-nualresearcheffort,surveyresultsandconclusionsaresharedwiththeinter-nationalcommunityandfinancialinstitutionsinAfrica–andbeyond–todrivechangeinthebankingsectortoclosethefinancialinclusiongap.

Foreword

1Source:http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=global-financial-inclusion2Note:MoreinformationaboutScale2Saveisavailableat:www.wsbi-esbg.org/KnowledgeSharing/Scale2Save3Note:MoreinformationaboutMastercardFoundationisavailableathttps://mastercardfdn.org/

WSBI – ESBG Managing Director Chris De Noose

page 9IntroductionIntroduction

Thescopeofthisfirstannualreport2018encompassesprimarydataresearchgathered fromWSBIAfricanmembership,providinga snapshotof savingsandretailbankingeffortstowidenfinancialaccessforpeopleinAfrica.

The2018reportisastartingpointtotracktheprogressofsavingsandretailbankinginAfrica.IntendedtogivebanksinAfricaareferencetooltoimprovefinancialaccesstofinanciallydisadvantagedpeople,reportsscheduledtobepublishedannuallyfrom2019to2021couldpotentiallyexpandtobanksinAfricancountriesoperatingbeyondtheWSBImembershipcountryfootprint.

Survey sample: 24 financial institutions from WSBI membershipThisfirstannualreportcollecteddatain2018from24financialinstitutionsoutofthe34WSBIAfricanmembers.Thedatacovered20Africancountriesrep-resentingone-thirdofthetotalpopulationinAfrica4.Amongsttheseregulatedfinancialinstitutions,78%arewhollystateowned.Intermsofbankingcharter,42%arecommercialbanksand25%savingsbanks.Theotherfinancialinsti-tutionstypesincludeacreditinstitution,asavingsandcreditbank,apostalserviceprovider,apostalbank,apostalfinancialinstitution,apostalfinancialdivisionandamicrofinanceinstitution.Postalfinancialservicesdominatethesample,with58%ofthefinancial institutionsstillusingpostofficesasare-motedistributionchannel.

01IntroductionFour pillars to financial inclusion: a report frameworkFollowingitsprogramme‘WSBIDoublingSavingsAccounts5’conductedfrom2008to2016,andbasedonextensive learningsince then inotherprojectwork,WSBI has structured this report around four base pillars of financialinclusion:

1. Usability:Low-incomepopulationneedsandhowtheyusetheirmoney.Thispillarexamines thedifferencebetweentheserviceofferofabankandcustomers’useofthoseservices.

2. Affordability:Howaffordableaproduct isforthelow-incomecustomer.Thispillarexaminesthegapbetweenthepriceofthebank’sservicesandthecustomer’sperceptionsregardingaffordability.

3. Accessibility:Howthelow-incomepopulationcanaccessthebanks’dif-ferent channels. It also examines the differences between how andwherecustomersearntheirmoney.

4. Sustainability:Abank’sability togenerateenoughprofits tomaintainasustainableserviceforlow-incomecustomers.Thispillaralsoaddressesex-ternalchallengesthataffectsustainability.

Foreachpillar, the report identifies thechallenges that impact thefinancialinclusionecosystem.

Types of accounts researched: transaction, savingsThereportfocusesontransactionandsavingsaccounts.Otherfinancial in-strumentssuchasloansorinsurancewillbedevelopedinsubsequentreportsinconjunctionwithsavings.

5Note:MoreinformationaboutWSBIDoublingSavingsAccountsisavailableat:https://www.wsbi-esbg.org/KnowledgeSharing/consultancy/bmgf4Source:WorldBankdatabase,Data_Extract_From_World_Development_Indicators2017MapofAfrica-Copywright®FreeVectorMaps.com

WSBIsurveycovering20Africancountries,31December2017

page 11

About Mastercard Foundation

IntroductionIntroduction

Foundedin1924,WSBIisaninternationalbankingassociationcommittedtohelpsavingsandretailbanksthrive.Todothis,itrepresentstheinterestsofapproximately6,000banksonallcontinents.Thesemembersareeitherindividualfinancialinstitutionsorassociationsofretailbanks.Allmemberssharethreecharacteris-tics:theyareactiveintheretailbankingsegment,haveastrongregionalpresenceandshowaresponsibleattitudetowardsbusinessandsociety.

Asaworldwideorganisation,WSBIfocusesoninternationalregulatoryissuesthataffectthesavingsandretailbankingindustry.ItsupportstheobjectivesoftheG20forachievingsustainable,inclusive,andbal-ancedgrowth,jobcreation,whetherinindustrialisedordevelopingcountries.Supportingadiversifiedrangeoffinancialservicestomeetcustomerneed,WSBIfavoursaninclusiveformofglobalisationthatisjustandfair.Itsupportsinternationaleffortstoadvancefinancialaccessandcommercialusageforeveryone.

Scale2Save is a partnership between WSBI and Mastercard Foundation to establish the viability of small-scalesavingsinsixAfricancountries.Thesix-yearprogrammeaimsfor1millionmorepeoplebankedinthosecountriesthroughprojectsusinginnovationmodels.Learnmoreatwww.wsbi-esbg.org/knowledgesharing/scale2save.

About WSBI

About Scale2Save

MastercardFoundationseeksaworldwhereeveryonehastheopportunitytolearnandprosper.TheFoun-dation’sworkisguidedbyitsmissiontoadvancelearningandpromotefinancialinclusionforpeoplelivinginpoverty.Oneofthelargestfoundationsintheworld,itworksalmostexclusivelyinAfrica.Itwascreatedin2006byMastercardInternationalandoperatesindependentlyunderthegovernanceofitsownBoardofDirectors.TheFoundationisbasedinToronto,Canada.FormoreinformationandtosignupfortheFounda-tion’snewsletter,pleasevisitwww.mastercardfdn.org.FollowtheFoundationat@MastercardFdnonTwitter.

A meeting of a savings group in rural area near Benin City, Nigeria

page 13SummarySummary

02Summary

Customer conundrum: Savings and retail banks in Africa struggle with customer centricity

Across the four financial inclusion pillars, survey findings reveal that banksfacedifficultyinservingthefinanciallydisadvantaged.Tappingintocustomerneeds,throughimprovingusability,affordability,accessibilityandsustainabilitywillbeimportanttobridgethegap.

Sustainability

Affordability

Accessibility

1/3offer more than 10 accounts

45%selected mobile banking as priority focus

2/3offer at least 4 accounts

43%selected financial resources as main barrier to expand channels

1/3offer at least 4savings products

Less than 30%have abank account

• REVENUEHigh-accountfeeschargedtocustomersbuthighsavingsinterestratepaidrevealsthatbusinessmodelisnotoptimised.

• UNAFFORDABLEACCOUNTTRANSACTIONS

• LOWCONSIDERATIONFORINTERESTRATES

42%of the balance sheet is low-balance savings accounts

In 2018most banks planned to focus on increasing the number of low-balance savings accounts

Financial institutions offer a variety of accounts, but low customer adoption exists.

Alternative delivery channels are commonly used by the banks, but some barriers exist against further development.

The business case is not optimised.

Usability

Though challenges exist, the low-income segment remains attractive for savings and retail banks in Africa.

page 15Savings and Retail Banking in AfricaSavings and Retail Banking in Africa

At a glance

a. Despiteavarietyofaccountsofferedbyfinancialinstitutions,lowcustomeradoptionpersists.

b. Onceacustomerhasadoptedafinancialservicesuchasatransactionorsavingsaccount,theactivityremainslow,whichiscloselyalignedwiththeresultsfrom WorldBank’s2017GlobalFindex.

Numberofaccountsofferedbythebanks

Customerprofilestargetedbythebanks

Customerprofilestargetedbythebanks

0 5 10 15 20 25

Numberofsavingsproductsofferedbythebanks

Savingsproductsfeaturesthatthebanksthinkcustomerslikemost

Key findings

Thereport introducesthefirstfundamentalpillarof financial inclusion –Usability – aswhat con-stitutes the real useof the financial servicesonoffer for low-incomecustomers:howdopeoplemakeuseoftheseservicestoaddresstheirdailyneeds.Oneof the biggest challenges facedbyfinancialinstitutionswhowanttomobilisesavingsistoopenaccountsthatcanandwillbeused.

The survey highlights that financial institutions believetheyhaveagoodunderstandingofcus-tomers’ preferences and offer a variety of cus-tomised accounts to meet customer needs.However, customer understanding and productavailability alone does not solve the usabilitygap.AccordingtotheWorldBank’s2017GlobalFindex, there isquite lowcustomeradoptionofthesefinancialservices.Inaddition,onceacus-tomer has adopted a financial service, accountactivityremainslow.

1/3offer more than 10 accounts

1/3of the banks think their customers generally like most the low fee of their savings products

41%of the active population

has no account because of insufficient funds

15%think financial services are too expensive

2/3offer at least 4 accounts

1/3offer at least 4savings products

target self-help support groups as well

03Savings and Retail Banking in Africa

3.1. Usability

Individualcustomers

Largerenterprises

MSMEs

Self-helpgroups

23181817Cu

stom

erprofile

Numberofbankstargeting

page 17

3.1.1. What do financial

institutions offer?

A majority of banks surveyed have a substantial account6 offerOne-thirdof the24bankssurveyedoffermore than10 typesofaccounts,and two thirdsof thebanksprovideat least four typesof accountswithintheirportfolio.Inadditiontostandardtransactionandcurrentaccounts,bankssurveyedarealsoofferingtothecustomertermdeposits,savingsandmobileaccounts(whichallowfordeposits,withdrawals,andfundtransfers).

Surveyresponsesrevealthattheofferofsavingsproducts6,excludingtrans-actionorcurrentaccounts,isquitecomprehensive.Indeed,morethanone-thirdofthebanksofferatleastfoursavingsproductstotheircustomers,andamajorityofthemprovidesixormoresavingsproducts.

Most financial institutions carefully target their accounts offerAllthebankssurveyedtargetindividualcustomers.Themajorityofthemalsotargetlargeenterprises,micro,smallandmedium-sizedenterprises(MSMEs6)and74%targetself-helpsupportgroupsaswell.Self-helpsupportgroups6 aregroupsoflow-incomepeoplewhocometogethertosaveandguaranteeoneanother’sloans,suchasVillageSavingsandLoanAssociations(VSLAs)orVillageCommunityBanks.Thebanks’strategytotargetself-helpsupportgroupsisparticularlyinterestingaspaststudieshavedemonstratedthegreatpotentialtobanktheseinformalsavingsgroups.7

How many different accounts do you offer to your customers?

morethan10:33%3:21%4:13%5:13%6:8%2:4%8:4%9:4%

1/3offer more than 10 types of accounts

2/3offer at least 4 types of accounts

Figure1:Numberofaccountsofferedbythebanks,31December2017

How many different savings products do you offer to your customers?

What profile of customers do you have at your bank?

Figure2:Numberofsavingsproductsofferedbythebanks,31December2017

Figure3:Customerprofilestargetedbythebanks,31December2017

morethan10:25%3:21%5:17%4:13%6:8%1:4%2:4%7:4%8:4%

1/3offer at least 4 savings products

0 20 40 60 80 100

Individualcustomers

Largerenterprises

MSMEs

Self-helpgroups

100%78%78%74%

6Seeglossaryonpage55.

Savings and Retail Banking in AfricaSavings and Retail Banking in Africa

7Sourcen°1:LinkagebankingforvillagesinEastAfrica,WSBI2014:https://www.wsbi-esbg.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/Linkage%20banking%20for%20villages%20in%20East%20Africa%20EN.PDFSourcen°2:PostbankUganda’sjourneyintothevillages,WSBI2014:https://www.wsbi-esbg.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/WSBI%20Linkage%20banking%20-%20case%20study%20insert%20EN.pdf

74%target self-help support groups

percentage

page 19

Several years ago, the Pension Retirement Insti-tuteofSenegal(IPRES),thegovernmentagencyinchargeofpensionmanagement,decided tobankitsretirees.Duetolowincomeandindividualhan-dlingofthistargetsegment,somefinancialinstitu-tionsdidnotwanttoservethisnicheorwouldonlyserve it for aminimum pension amount. PosteFi-nances,thesubsidiaryofLaPoste,acceptedthatchallenge and played an important role as postalfinancial serviceproviderbyopeningaccountsonflexibletermsfortheretiredcustomers.

Theexperience revealedsome interestingcharac-teristicsoftheretiredpopulation inSenegal.Retir-eestendtocometobankbranchesinlargegroups

which significantly increase the traffic at certainhours. In addition, the bank found that patience,human contact and social assistance are key tomanagethiscustomerbase.

PosteFinancesfoundtheappropriatewaytosolvethis issueandanewsystemofpensionpaymentwas successfully developed: all pensions are dis-bursedontwofixeddayspermonthatanyPoste-Finances branch in the country. In addition, thenetworkwasexpandedto300servicepoints.TheexperiencefromPosteFinancesinmasspaymentswas a great asset to target a population ofmorethan90,000retirees.

Insights on PosteFinances in Senegal: Successful management of retiree pensions

Banks’ perceptions consistent with World Bank dataSurveyresponsesshowthatone-thirdofbanksthinkthecustomergenerallylikesmost a low feewhen it comes to savings products, followed by theflexibilityofdepositamountat21%ofsurveyrespondents.Accordingtointer-viewswithpartnerbanksinfourcountries,‘flexibilityofdeposit’wasinterpret-edaccordingtodifferentcriteria:theflexibilityontheamounttobedeposited,theflexibilityonthechannelusedfordeposit(ATM,branch,mobile,etc.),andtheflexibilitytodepositatanytimeandanywhereinthecountry.Finally,17%thinklocalaccessisthemostappreciatedcharacteristicofsavingsproducts.

These results are consistent with the World Bank’s 2017 Global Findex.Forty-one per cent of the active population (those aged 15 and above) reportedhavingnoaccountbecausetheyhaveinsufficientfundstodeposit.Fifteen per cent of the active population perceive financial services as tooexpensive, and 14% responded that financial institutions are situated too faraway.

What do you think your customer generally likes most about your savings products?

lowfee:33%flexibilityofdeposits:21%localaccess:17%interestrate:13%user-friendlydesign:13%other:4%

1/3of the banks think the low fee rate is what customers generally like most about their savings products

Figure4:Characteristicsofthesavingsproductsthatthebanksthinkthecustomerslikethemost,31December2017

Reasons for not opening an account

Figure5:Reasonsfornotopeninganaccount,WorldBankGlobalFindex,2017

insufficientfunds(%age15+):41%financialservicesaretooexpensive:15%financialinstitutionsaretoofaraway:14%lackofnecessarydocument:13%lackoftrustinfinancialinstitutions:9%someoneinthefamilyhasanaccount:5%

41%of the active population has no account because of insufficient funds

15%think financial services are too expensive


Insight on savings and retail banks’ customer profile

Outofthe71%ofbankssurveyedthatknowthegendercompositionoftheircustomerbase,45%ofthebanks’accountsareopenedbywomen.Inhalfofthebanksthatknowthegeographicspread,35%ofcus-tomerscomefromruralareas.BasedontheWorldBank’s2017GlobalFindex,femaleaccountpenetrationatWSBImembersisslightlyabovetheaverageintheseAfricancountrieswhiletheruralaccountpenetrationisslightlybelowthisaverage.

page 21

3.1.2. What are the challenges?

3.1.2.1. Low customer adoption

Despite the significant push by financial in-stitutions, data show that informal financial services are still the route of choice for the majority of the population. AccordingtotheWorldBank’s2017GlobalFin-dex8,lessthan30%oftheactivepopulationhaveanaccountatafinancialinstitutioninthe20Afri-

cancountrieswheresurveyresponseshavebeencollected9. Among those who claimed havingsavedanymoneyinthepastyear,twiceasmanysavedmoney using a savings club/person out-sidethefamilycomparedwiththosewhosavedatafinancialinstitution.

The usage of formal financial services tends to increase with education level, income and employment status. Themajorgapinaccountpenetrationcorrelateswiththeeducationlevel,asonly22%oftheac-tivepopulationwithaprimaryeducationhaveanaccount.Just44%ofthosewithasecondaryed-ucationhaveanaccount.Thesecondmajordis-parityemergesat the income levelof theactivepopulation.

Only 17%of thepoorest segment have an ac-countatafinancialinstitutioncomparedto39%of the wealthiest segment. Finally, the employ-mentstatus resultsarea thirdmajorgap inac-countpenetration.Only20%of theactivepop-ulationwhich isoutof the labour forcehaveanaccount at a financial institution. Up to 36% inthe labour force have an account at a financialinstitution.

8MostoftheWorldBank’s2017GlobalFindexdataareavailablefortheselectedcountriesexceptAngolaandSudanfromwhichthe2014dataisusedasdefault,andComorosfromwhichthe2011dataisusedasdefault.NodataonCaboVerdeisavailableatallintheWorldBankGlobalFindexdatabase.9Forthepurposeofthereport,eachcountryhasbeenweightedaccordingtotheactivepopulationsize.

Figure6:Sourceofsavings,WorldBankGlobalFindex,2017

Source of savings

Themaintoolsusedbybankssurveyedtopromotesavingstolow-incomecustomersarepersonalsell-ing (face-to-face communication) and advertisingthroughtheradio.Whilepersonalsellingandfinan-cialeducationinitiativesmightaddresstheissueofthecustomer’sperceptiondirectly,broadcastradioseems less appropriate to increase adoption andactivitygiventhecustomer’sreluctancetoopenandusethefinancialservices,withlackoffundsbeingasignificantreason.Broadcastradiomaybemoreeffectiveearlyonduringtheawarenessstage.

Inadditiontotheusualpromotionaltools,thema-jorityof thebanks (74%)providespecific financialeducationtothecustomers.

Information gathered from interviews with part-ner banks in four countries indicate that financialeducation isprovided indifferentways (within thebranch by an employee, outside the bank in thefield,online).Mostofthepartnerbanksdoit,how-ever through conferences and the use of leafletswithin the bank. These tools cover a large set oftopics (savingsand loanproducts,businessman-agement, financial management, risk and insur-ance,technology)andfinancialeducationisusuallytailoredaccordingtothecustomersegments.

For example, business customers receive specif-ic education on account bookkeeping, taxes orbusinessmanagement,while individualcustomers

receive information about savings, financial man-agement, insurance,etc.Otherfinancialeducationtools might also target women, youth or savingsgroups.

As another example regarding the tools used, apartnerbankwouldorganiseconferencesforlargerenterprisesandMSMEsoutsideofthebankinvitingspeakersandsuccessfulbusinesses,whileitwoulduse online or phone applications for its individualcustomerswhocanthennavigateandinteractwithanoperator.However,thischannelislimitedtoliter-atecustomersonly.

Other partner banks address financial educationonly for loan instruments throughmonthly trainingfocusing on business and account bookkeeping,loanrepaymentandsavings.

Some partner banks also supplement the gov-ernment financial education programmes by localinitiativesorpartnershipswithotherorganisations.

According to past studies, the impact of financialeducation programmes on consumer behaviourhas been difficult to measure as such initiativesareoftenruntogetherwithotherpromotionaltoolsandondifferenttimescales.However,despitetheveryfewpiecesofevidenceintheliterature,banksshouldcontinuetoinvestinthesetoolsasadriverforfinancialinclusion.

Promotion and financial education: Another area of potential difficulty

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

savedanymoneyinthepastyear

savedusingasavingscluborapersonoutsidethefamily

savedatafinancialinstitution

49%

22%11%


2Xas many customers saved money using a savings club/person outside the family compared to saving at a financial institution

page 23

3.1.2.2. Low account activity

Once a customer has adopted a financial service such as a transaction or savings ac-count, activity remains low for most of the banks.Bytheendof2017,the24banksthatansweredthesurveyhad17million transactionaccounts6 opened, 21 million savings accounts6, and 1.4millionmobileaccounts6.

The survey responses showed, however, thatonlyasmallnumberofaccountswereconsideredactive6(usedtoperformatleastonetransactionduringthelastsixmonths).Theinactivityratere-mainssignificant,despitefallingonbothtransac-tionandsavingsaccountsforthelast12monthperiod.

Figure7:Percentageofactivesavingsandtransactionaccountsduringsecondhalf2017

Figure9:Numberoftransactionsperaccountduringthelast12monthsto31December2017

Figure8:Percentageofactivesavingsandtransactionaccountsduringfullyear2017

Activity: 6 monthsOnly48%ofsavingsaccountsand64%oftransac-tionaccountswereactiveover the lastsixmonths(secondsemester2017).

Activity: 12 monthsOnly77%ofsavingsaccountsand76%oftransac-tionaccountswereactiveover the last12months(year2017).

0 50 100 0 50 100percentage percentage

48% 77%64% 76%

The activity of accounts is low: the average number of cash-in / cash-outtransactionrangesbetweenoneandthreeperyear.Moreover,account-to- accounttransfersarefewerthanonceperyearonbothtypesofaccounts.

Whatever the kind of transaction performed, its occurrence remains

less than 3 times per year.

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

cash-incash-outtransfers

transactionaccounts

savingsaccounts

1.55

0.702.96

1.111.24

0.23

activitytype



savingsaccounts savingsaccounts

transactionaccounts transactionaccounts

typeofaccount

typeofaccount

Women repay their loans at community meeting in Bumweru, Uganda

page 25

3.1.3. What does it mean for savings

and retail banks?

Despitethevarietyofaccountsofferedtovarioussegmentsbythefinancialinstitutionssurveyed,theproductvaluepropositiondoesnotseemadaptedtothecustomer’sneeds,asevidencedbythelowaccountpenetrationandactivityrate.Itappearsthatfinancialinstitutionsstrugglewithcustomercen-tricity.Thequestioniswhy?Coulditbetheprice?Perhapsaccess?Isthereacommunicationgap?Whatothervariablescouldbethecause?

Thenextsectionsofthereportwilladdressthefollowingquestions:1. Whatdrivesthebusinesscaseforproviderstoserve

thefinanciallydisadvantaged?2. Howcananenablingenvironmentbecreated?

The lowactivity ratesreported fromthebanksarenotasurprise.TheyarecloselyalignedwiththeresultsfromtheWorldBank’s2017GlobalFindex,asonly40%oftheactivepopulationhavinganaccountatafinancialinstitutionmadeadepositand43%madeawithdrawal inthepastyear inthe20Af-ricancountrieswheresurveyresponseshavebeencollected.Upto18%oftheactivepopulationreported‘nodeposit’and‘nowithdrawalatall’duringthepastyear.Finally,only25%oftheactivepopulationmadeorreceivedadigitalpaymentinthepastyearusingmobilemoney,adebitorcreditcard,oramobilephonetomakeapaymentfromanaccountorusingtheinternettopaybillsortobuysomethingonline.

Figure10:Paymentanddeposit/withdrawalactivity,WorldBankGlobalFindex,2017

40% of the active population having an account at a financial institution made a deposit in the past year

50

40

30

20

10

0withdrawalinthepastyear

depositinthepastyear

madeorreceiveddigitalpaymentinthepastyear

nodepositandwithdrawalinthepastyear

43% 40%25% 18%

Payment and deposit/withdrawal activity (weighted)


%ofactivepopulationhavingaccountatfinancialinstitution

page 27

Businessmodels–includinghighaccountfeesandinterestratesofferedtocustomers–arenotoptimised. Itappears thatfinancial institutionsneedtobemorecustomercentric.

Key findings

3.2. Affordability

This sectionanalyses the second fundamental pillar of financial inclusion–Affordability–astohowmuchlow-incomecustomerscanaffordtopayforfinancial services. Survey findings highlight no real acknowledgment that customersareturnedoffbyhighpricing.

Surveyresultsalsoshowthatthecustomerpaysahighnumberofaccountfees,whichincludeaccountopeningfees,ledgerfeesandtransactionfees.Ontheotherhand,mostbanksofferinterestratestotheircustomersonsav-ings accounts. This usual business case for the financial institutions is notoptimized,asindicatedbytheWorldBank’s2017GlobalFindex,whichhigh-lightsthatcustomersshowindifferencetointerestratesonsavingsaccountsbutastrongsensitivitytoledgerfees.

Banks drive their revenue from ledger and transaction fees. Most banks surveyed drive revenue on trans-action accounts from the ledger and transac-tion fees tied to the transactionsize.Aminoritychargeaccount-openingfeestotheircustomers.Lessthan10%ofthebanksofferfreetransactionaccountswherenofeeischargedatall.

The savings accountsmainly generate revenuethroughledgerfees.Lessthan20%ofthebanksofferfreesavingsaccounts.Also,thefewbanksthat provide free transaction accounts requirepayments on the savings account to generatesomerevenue.

Mobileaccountsgeneraterevenuethroughtrans-actionfeestiedtothesizeofthetransactionandonly10%ofthebankssurveyedofferfreemobileaccounts.

Figure11:Percentageofbanksreportingtransactionaccountfees,31December2017

Figure12:Percentageofbanksreportingsavingsaccountfees,31December2017

Figure13:Percentageofbanksreportingmobileaccountfees,31December2017

0 50 100

0 50 100

0 50 100

Transaction account

Savings account

Mobile account

Accountopening

fees

Accountopening

fees

Accountopening

fees

Ledgerfees

Ledgerfees

Ledgerfees

Transactionfees

Transactionfees

Transactionfees

38%76%

66%

35%45%54%

50%40%

80%



institutions offer?

percentage

percentage

percentage

page 29


Context of the study:In2018,AlBaridBanklaunchedanewpackcom-posedofamobileaccountandaremuneratedsav-ingsaccount,accessiblefromamobilephonewiththepossibilityoftransferringmoneyfreeofchargefromoneaccount toanother.Todevelopaneco-systemaroundthedigitalpayments,AlBaridBankisequippingthemerchantswithapaymentapplica-tion,calledBaridBankMobile, so thatcustomerscanmakepaymentsdirectlytothemerchant’sac-countthroughtheirmobilephone.

ThepurposeofthestudyconductedinApril2018was to understand and analyse the motivations,appetitesandbehavioursofthevarioustargetau-diencevis-à-vistheprojectofdigitalisationofpay-mentwithafocusonthesavingsactivity.

Results of the study:Amongsttheresultsof thestudy,thedigitalfinan-cialservicesofferedbymerchants(payment,cashin and cash out) were, in general, well acceptedby customers. The merchant felt positively theproposed cash-out. The majority of customersthought,however,thatcash-out fees linkedtothesizeofthetransactionweretoohigh.AlBaridBank,therefore,reviewedthechargesaccordingly.

Theresultsofthestudyshowalsothatallcustom-ersarewillingtousedigitalsavingsastheyarefreeofcharge,butamajorityof thecustomersdonotconsidersavingsinterestratesasthepriority.

Context of the study:Aspartofthepre-projectresearchundertheScale-2Saveprogramme,astudywasconductedinJuly2018 in order to understand the lifestyle,money- relatedbehaviour and values of theNigerian ruralfarmer.

Results of the study:Amongst the results of the study, farmers in thesouthofNigeriadonotconsiderinterestratesasahighpriority,whilefarmersinthenorthofthecoun-trydonotwantinterestatallduetoreligiousbeliefs.Theywantaccesstocapitalforexpansion.

Learnmoreatwww.wsbi-esbg.org/knowledge-sharing/scale2save/nigeriacasestudy

Case study from Al Barid Bank in Morocco: Market research on digital payment and savings

Case study from Nigeria: Market research on the Nigerian rural farmer

Most banks offer interest rates to their cus-tomers on a savings account, but still re-quire a minimum balance to open it.

Figure14:Transactionaccountcharacteristics,31December2017

Figure15:Savingsaccountcharacteristics,31December2017

Figure16:Mobileaccountcharacteristics,31December2017

0 50 100

0 50 100

0 50 100

Transaction account

Savings account

Mobile account

Interestrate

offered

Interestrate

offered

Interestrate

offered

Minimumbalancerequired



35%

95%

50%

45%

90%

50%


percentage

percentage

percentage

page 31

Financial institutionsneedmorecustomercentricity.This isapparentwhenoneconsiderstheperceptionsasindicatedintheprevioussection.Morespe-cifically, that banks see that customers appreciatemost a low fee rate forsavingsproductsand,coincidentally,thatcustomersthinkfinancialservicesaretooexpensive.Thepriceoffinancialservicesdoesnotseemadaptedtocustomeraffordabilitywhenlookingatcustomers’highsensitivitytotransac-tionfeesandlowconsiderationforinterestratesonsavingsaccounts.

Accordingtointerviewswithpartnerbanksinfourcountries,customersensi-tivitytofeesiswidelyrecognisedbythebanks.Somepartnerbanks,however,specifythatthissensitivityishighertowardsmonthlyfeessuchastheledgerfeeschargedtocustomers,evenwhenthereisnotransaction.

Nevertheless,somepartnerbanksspecifiedthatcustomersmightvalue in-terestratesdependingonthetypeofaccount.Forexample,theremightbenoconsiderationfor interestratesonabasicsavingsaccountbecausethemoneyontheaccountisratherusedfortransactionsratherthanforsavingspurposes.Thismeansthatthemoneydoesnotstayontheaccountverylongasthemoneyontheaccountisusedfortransaction,ratherthanforsavingspurposes.However,fixeddepositsaccountswithinterestratesmightattractcustomersasthistypeofaccountismorededicatedtosavingsandthereforestable.


and retail banks?

TheWSBIDoublingSavingsAccountsProgrammepublishedresearchinMay2012onhouseholdsen-sitivitytotransactionprices.Thereportdemonstrat-edthattheaffordabilityenvelopeoffivetransactionspermonthconstituteswhetheraproductispricedaffordablyandisafactorofusability.

The table below shows poor, rural householdmonthly cash flow for seven countries in Africa.It then highlights the sort of actual monthly cashflowahouseholdhasavailableandislikelytopushthroughfinancialinstruments.Thethirdrowdemon-stratestheamountofmoneythepoorarewillingto

payforamixof informal/semi-formaltransactions.This iswhatwecall the affordability envelope. Fi-nally,atthebottomareactualfeesthattherelevantWSBImemberwouldchargeforafive-transactionbundle comprising two electronic transfers in/outplusthreecashoperations,assumingthatat leastfivetransactions/monthareanindicatorforusabilityofaserviceorproductonoffer.Whilstactualtrans-action fees and purchasing power changes overtime,afinancialinstitutionneedstomakesurethatthepriceof five transactionsfitswithin theafford-abilityenvelopeofacustomer.

Insight from the WSBI Doubling Savings Accounts programme10

10Source:https://www.wsbi-esbg.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/Product%20Mapping%20Paper%20EN.pdf

The affordability envelope for basic payements and savings services in rural markets

CountriescoveredbyWSBIprogramme group 1:Tanzania,Uganda

group 2:BurkinaFaso,Kenya,Lesotho

group 4: Morocco,SouthAfrica

Typicalhouseholdtotalmonthlycashflow $40-50 $55-70 ±$150

Likelyamountofcashfinanciallymanipulated $10-15 ±$25 ±$100

Likelylimitonwhatisbeingpaidforthis USc60-75 $1.25-1.50 notclearbut± $2-3

Amountbankschargeforafive-transactionpackage

TZ=c60 KE/LS=upto$1.50

SA=$1.8


page 33

Alternativedeliverychannelsarecommonlyofferedbybanks,butsomebarriersexistagainsttheirfurtherdevelopment.

Key findings

3.3. Accessibility

Thissectionofthereportanalysesthethirdfundamentalpillaroffinancialin-clusion–Accessibility–asfarasaddressingthedifficultiesofgettingcloseenoughtolow-incomecustomerssothatanaccountcanbeused.Inadditiontodirectcost,asignificantbarrierisadditionalcostsbornebythecustomer,includingtransportationcosts(timeandmoney)forthecustomertomakeatransaction.Theproximitygap is thebiggestchallenge toserving the low- incomepopulation,accordingtomostfinancialinstitutionssurveyed.

Thesurveyindicatesthatalternativedeliverychannels6–anychannelthatisnotafull-servicebrick-and-mortarbranch–arecommonlyusedbybanks,butsomebarriersexistagainstfurtherdevelopment.Alternativedeliverychannels,includingagents6,ATMs6,merchants6,mobilebanking6,androvingstaff6,arenotthatcheapfortheproviderandrequireanupfrontinvestment,aswellascontinuoustrainingandmonitoring.

At a glance

Channelsofferedbythebankstoaccesssavings

Internalbarriersofthebankstodevelopnewchannelsofdistribution

Priorityfocuschannelsforthenext12months

50%use agents and mobile banking

43%selected ‘financial resources’

45%selected ‘mobile banking’



page 35

Amongstthealternativedeliverychannels,themajorityofthebankssurveyeddeployATMs,andaroundhalfofthebanksuseagents– individualsorbusi-nessesentitledtoactonbehalfofafinancial institutiontoperformcertainfi-nancial or administrative transactions.Half of thebanksoffer aswellmobilebanking–mobileservicesbasedonUSSDorSMScommunicationsthatclientscanaccessthroughtheirdevice.Merchants–thoseusingaphysicalpaymentprocessingdevicetoacceptpayment forsalesof itsgoodsorservices fromcustomers–androvingstaffs–unitsthatservecustomersoutsidethebranch–arenotadeliverychannelcommonlyusedbythebanks.

Figure17:Channelsofferedbythebankstoaccesssavings,31December2017

Figure18:Priorityfocuschannelsofthebanksforthenext12months,31December2017

What channels can your customers use to access savings?

In the next 12 months, which channel will be your priority focus?

BeyondchannelslistedinFigure17(above),mobilevansremaininuseamongWSBImemberbanks.Paststudieshighlighttheprohibitivecostofthisalter-nativedeliverychannel. Indeed,while themobilevanconcept is innovative,thecostperclientismostoftenexceptionallyhighcomparedtoothertech-nology-enabledapproaches.

ATM

Agent

MobileBanking

Merchant

RovingStaff 24%27%52%54%78%

mobilebanking:45%branches:18%agents:18%ATM:14%merchantPOS:5%

1/2use agents and mobile banking

45% selected ‘mobile banking’ as priority focus channel


institutions offer?According to the GSMA State of Industry Report2017, theSub-SaharanAfrican region,whichhaslongbeentheepicentreofmobilemoney,keepsongrowingasthemobilemoneyaccountsregistrationisincreasingby18.4%onayear-on-yearbasis.TheMiddleEastandNorthAfrica(MENA)regionshowsstronggrowthaswellwithatransactionvaluerisingby21.5%onayear-on-yearbasis.Moreover, the 2017 GSMA report highlights therecentdevelopmentofmobilemoneytoservenotonlyasatraditionalpaymentplatform,butatoolforsavingsmoneyandearninginterest.Thisnewmo-bilemoney-enabledsavingsofferfromtheprovidersaretobedesignedinpartnershipwiththirdparties,particularlybanks.Despite this significant mobile money trend, lessthan half of the banks that answered the surveyoffer amobile account to their customers.Ninetypercentof thebanksprovidingamobileaccount

areinEnglish-speakingcountries.Theterm‘mobileaccount’refersinthesurveytoanyaccountwhichallows for transactions to or from other accountsthrough amobile phone.According topast stud-ies, thedifferentstagesofmobileecosystemsde-velopmentamongcountriesmightbeexplainedbythelegalandregulatoryframework(non-existentorweakregulationsthatcouldclearlydefinetheroleofelectronicpaymentserviceproviders)orbymarketbarriers.Moreover, the results from theWSBIsurveyshowthat the majority of the mobile accounts wereopenedin2017.Bytheendofthatyear,bankswhoansweredthesurveyhad17milliontransactionac-counts and 21million savings accounts, but only1.4millionmobile accounts. Fifty-two per cent ofthesemobileaccountswereopenedin2017,com-paredto14%beingtransactionaccountsand13%savingsaccounts.

Focus on mobile money: Slow uptake from savings and retail banks despite boom in Africa

Regardingthechannelstrategyfor2018,45%ofthebanksselectedmobilebankingasapriorityfocuschannelforthenext12months,and18%ofthebanksmentionedthebranchesandtheagentsasapriority.


page 37

CentenaryBank launchedagentbanking in2017.By the end of that year, the bank reached 176agentsaroundthecountry,followedby746agentsby March 2018, and 2,000 more forecasted byyear-end2018.EachagentappliedforalicenseattheBankofUgandatobeabletoworkfordifferentbanksusingasharedplatform.

The development of the agent channel resultedin a significant increase in savings accounts, andthereforemore fund-stability for future investment.Moreover,thischannelreducedthecustomerflow

intobranches.Deposits throughagents represent5%oftotaltransactions.

Todevelopitsagentchannel,CentenaryBankem-ployedastrategythatincludedbuildingconfidencewith the public, incentivising people to contractas an agent and providing training to these newagents.Thebankalsosetouttoeducatecustom-ersonhowtotransactthroughanagent.Addition-ally,CentenaryBankcreatedaprocesstomonitoragentsviaregularsupervisionandappointedfinan-cialinclusionmanagerswithinbranches.

Insight on Centenary Bank in Uganda: New agent channel


While alternative delivery channels were the main priority in 2018 for thebanks, somebarriersprevent them fromdevelopingnewchannels.Surveyresultshighlightthebarrieroffinancialresourcesasthemainimpedimentforbanks(43%),buttechnologywasmentionedasacriticalbarrieraswell for29%of them.Accordingto interviewswithpartnerbanks in fourcountries,“technology”wasmainlyinterpretedasafinancialresourceissue.Ascustom-erneedsgrowconstantly,relatedcostsarehightomeettheseneedsthroughappropriatetechnology.Costsrisestillfurtherwhenbankstargetlow-incomecustomers.Onepartnerbankhighlightedaswelltheissueofe-security,whichratchetsupdigitaltechnologycosts.

Figure19:Barriersofthebankstodevelopnewchannelsofdistribution,31December2017

What is the major barrier to develop new channels of distribution?

financialresources:43%technology:29%regulation:14%other:10%humanresources:5%

43%selected ‘financial resources’ as the main barrier


Merchant in Ben Guerir, Morocco, displays Al Barid Bank’s mobile offer for merchants and customers.

page 39

ATMspotentiallyofferalow-costapproachtothefull-servicebranch.However,thischannelstillrequiresavitalupfrontinvestmenttobeintegratedintothebanks’systems.CompoundingthisarerealestatecostsforATMspace,whichmightbeexpensiveinsomeareas.ATMsoftenfacereliabilityissuesaswell,andrequireconstantavailabilityofelectricityandnetworkconnectivity.Finally, thischannel involvesbusinessprocesschanges,includingshiftingto24-hour/7-days-per-weekoperations.SomecustomersfaceasteeplearningcurveusingATMs.Trainingthemisoftenrequired. Agentsandmobilebankingusuallycometogether.Branchlessdoesnotmeanfaceless,asagentsplayavital role inmobile banking. Low-incomecustomers’mobile know-how is often limited to understandinghowtodialandhangup.Theneedexistsforfinancialinstitutionstoprovideadditionalmobilephoneliteracyprogrammes.Education, trainingandmarketingareessential tools toaddresssuch issues.Asa trustedintermediary,theagentwilllikelyplayanevenmoreengagedrole,facilitatingtransactionsandhelpingclientsbecomemorecomfortableusingthetechnologyintheirhandsandinnewways. Asanalternative tomobile,otherpoint-of-salesdevicesmightbeused,but theyare typically expensivesolutionstopurchaseandrepair.Thiscostisdifficulttojustifywhencomparedwiththepotentialofthemobilephonealone,especiallywhenfactoringinaddedcomplexitysuchassafetyconcerns,batterylifeandotherfactors,aswellasaskingtheagentstocarryaseconddeviceinadditiontothemobilephoneintheirpocket.

Insight on other specific challenges for some alternative delivery channels

Accordingtothe interviewswithpartnerbanks infourcountries,somealternativedeliverychannelsarenotusedduetoregulation.Forexample,inMoroccothe“NewBankingLaw”,law103-12,intro-ducedtheconceptof“PaymentInstitution”,“PaymentAgent”andrecognisedelectronicmoneybackinDecember2014.However,thisnewregulationdidnotdefinethetermsandconditionsofoperationofthelatter,northeservicesitcanofferuntilJune2016throughtwocircularspublishedbytheBankAl-Maghrib–thecentralbankofMorocco.Thisneedforclarificationonmobileandagencybankingdelayedsignificantlytheintroductionofthenewalternativedeliverychannelsatthefinancialinstitutions.

AnotherexamplecomesintheeightcountrieswithintheWestAfricanEconomicandMonetaryUnion(UEMOA,“UnionEconomiqueetMonétaireOuestAfricaine”inFrench).Regulatedbyonecentralbank,banksunderUEMOAjurisdictioncanonlydeployagencybankingthroughthe“IntermediaireenOp-erationsdebanque”concept,whichrequiresfinancialinstitutionstocreateasubsidiaryorenterintoapartnership.MicrofinanceinstitutionshavemoreflexibilitytocarryoutagencybankingsolutionssincetheregulationappliedtotheminUEMOAcountriesallowsthemtolaunchagencybankingsolutionsthroughagents/merchants.

Alternativedelivery channels contribute to thewelfareof the customers asthey deliver more convenient financial services. Despite the lower cost ofthesechannelscompared to the full-servicebrick-and-mortarbranches, fi-nancialresourcesremainthemainbarriertodevelopnewdeliverychannelsforthebanks.

Thequestion arises as towhether partnerships, such as a shared agencybankinginfrastructure,couldbeafeasibleoutcometobringdowncostsandboostoutreach.

Inaddition,theimpactofalternativechannelsonusabilityinruralareasmaybemitigatedbyalackofsecurityandcashflowmanagementissuesforagents.Accordingtothe2018SavingsCountreportpublishedbyItad11,othersignif-icantbarrierspreventuptakeandusebycustomers.Thesebarriers include“thelackofchannelreliabilitytoperformtransactions,lackofintegritysuchasfraudbyagentsormisuseofclientdata,andlimitationsduetoundertrainedpersonnelandregulatoryrestrictions.”


and retail banks?

11Source:http://www.itad.com/reports/briefing-paper-savings-count/


page 41

TheWSBIDoublingSavingsAccountsprogrammepublishedaproximitymappingtool togiveanas-sessmentofhowmanyclientsneedtobecapturedby different types of outlets to become financiallysustainableatreasonablyaffordablepricing.WSBIfoundthatbranchesandvansneedcatchmentsof50,000to100,000+peopledependingonthelevelofcompetition.Single-tellerkioskswork insmallertowns(“tradingcentres”)withpopulationsofabout10,000+.Agentmodelswork in ruralcentreswithpopulationsofaslowas5,000.

Separately, the charts below describe howmanylocationsaretherewiththissortofpopulationwithinwalkingdistance inKenyaandTanzania. Theas-sumptionisthatpeoplearewillingtowalkamaxi-mumdistanceof2kmformakingasmalldepositbutupto5kmtopick-up/sendatransferthattypi-callyequalsaweek’swages.Thechartssummarisethechancesforafinancial institutiontogetaruralreachwithabranchand/ormobileagents.

Insight from the WSBI Doubling Savings Accounts programme12

12Source:https://www.wsbi-esbg.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/Affordability,%20sustainability%20and%20the%20limits%20to%20proximity.pdf

90-100clearlyurbancentres:13million

and±625otherdistinctruralcentres:5million

borderline±1,100looserruralclustersatscale:4million

±17,750verydispersedruralclusters/ruralhinterland:12million

oneinsevennotobviouslyreachablebyformalcash-in/out:6million

±220distinctcentres(splitabout50-50urban/rural):11million

borderline±325looserruralclustersatscale:1million

2,500verydispersedruralclusters/ruralhinterland:14million

morethantwoineveryfivenotobviouslyreachablebyformalcash-in/out:6million

Kenya: 40.5 million people in 2010; probably just over a thousand locations at scale needed

Tanzania: 45 million people in 2010 but only a few hundred locations at scale needed

Percentadultsbanked±40%

Percentadultsbanked20-25%

±35%Reducingtonone

Reducingquicklytonone ±10%

AseriesofpracticalguidesandcasestudiesfromUNCDFMicroLead,MastercardFoundation,andPHBAcademyprovideusefultoolstoguidefinancialinstitutionsintheirdigitaljourney:

• Toolkit1:Usemobileasatool• Toolkit2:Beanagent• Toolkit3:Leverageanexistingagentnetwork• Toolkit4:Developyourownagentnetwork• Toolkit5:Createyourownmobilebankingchannel• Toolkit6:Beaprovider

Insight from the MicroLead’s DFS Toolkits: How to Succeed in Your Digital Journey13

13Source:http://www.uncdf.org/microlead/download-the-dfs-toolkits-from-microlead


Kenya Post Office Savings Bank offers small savings groups a mobile banking service called ‘M-Chama’. The product aims at allowing members to use their mobile devices to transact group business.

page 43

3.4. Sustainability

Thefinalsectionexaminesthefourthfundamentalpillaroffinancialinclusion–Sustainability–coveringtheremainingconstraintsfromcustomeradoptionoffinancialserviceswhileensuringtheseservicesareprofitableforthebank.Thoseconstraintsincludelackoftrustandregulatorybarriers,informationandknowledgegaps,sociallimitationsandbehaviouralbiases.

Thesurvey indicates thatsavingsand retailbanks inAfricaare investing inthelow-incomecustomersegmentastheyperceiveittobeviable.Theywillcontinuetoinvest inwaystoincreasethenumberofaccounts.Besidesaf-fordabilityandaccessibilitychallenges,onecriticalarearelatestothemacro-economicenvironment–namelyregulatoryandsocio-economicfactors–inwhichfinancialinstitutionsoperate.Theywillneedthisenvironmenttobefa-vourabletoreachsustainability.

a. Thoughchallengesexist,thelow-incomesegmentremainsattractiveforsavingsandretailbanksinAfrica.

b. Volumeisthemajorfactordrivingsustainabilityoflow-balancesavingsaccounts.

c. Toreachsustainability,themacro-economicenvironment–namelyregulationandsocio-economicfactors–oughttobefavourabletofinancialinclusionaswell.

Key findings

3.4.1. What do the financial

institutions offer?

Low-balance savings accounts are perceived as being viable for the banks One-thirdofthebankssurveyedviewlow-balancesavingsaccountsashighlyviableand42%slightlyviablefortheirbusiness.Onaverage,low-balancesav-ingsaccountsrepresent42%ofthebalancesheetsofthebankssurveyed.

Volume perceived a key factor for low-balance savings accounts being sustainableThemostsignificantinvestmentfromthebanksinfinancialinclusionin2017wastoincreasethenumberoflow-balancesavingsaccounts.Thisremainedthefo-cusfor2018.Accordingtothebanks’perception,volume–moreprecisely,thenumberofsavingsaccounts–istheprimarycriterionfor low-balancesavingsaccounts to be sustainable. The greater the number of low-balance savingsaccounts,themoresustainabletheyare.Costisthenextcriterion,includinglowaccount-openingcosts,requiredlowinvestmentformarketing,andlowinterestpaidcustomers.The final criterion involveseasy-to-accesssavingsproducts.However,accountactivity–includingahighnumberofdeposits,alownumberofwithdrawals,andahighnumberoftransactions–remainsessentialaswell.


Figure20:Perceptionsofthebanksonthelowbalancesavingsaccounts,31December2017

To what extent do you perceive low-balance savings accounts to be viable for your bank?

3(slightlyviable):42%4(highlyviable):33%2(poorlyviable):25%

A majority of the banks perceive low-balance savings accounts as viable for their business.

Figure21:Criteriaforlowbalancesavingsaccounttobesustainable,31December2017

What are the top three criteria for low balance savings account to be sustain-able for your bank?

cost

easyaccesstosavingsproduct

volume

page 45


Inadditiontothe52%ofbankswhoidentifiedaregulatorybarriertodevel-opfinancialinclusion,significantobstaclesmentionedinsurveyfeedbackareKnowYourCustomer(KYC)requirementsandregulationonservicesused.

Major barriers:

KYC requirement and the regulation on the services used.

According to interviewswithpartner banks in four countries, regulationonservicesused include rulescovering thepriceof theservice, theminimumfeessetupbyagovernmenttocompletedepositand/orwithdrawaltransac-tions,oralawthatallowsa(too)highceilingofthetransactionamount.Forexample, in theeightUEMOAcountriesregulatedbyonecentralbank, theyearlyinterestratecaponloansissetat15%forbanksand24%formicro- financeinstitutions.Thismaximuminterestrateisabarrierforbankstoreachalow-incomesegmentwhileremainingprofitable.Thiscanbeexplainedduetothetotalcostforbankstooffermicro-loansquicklyreachingtheleveloftheinterest ratecap,whichmakes thebusinesscaseunviable.Banks’ lendingstrategiestargetedatlow-incomecustomersareoftenlinkedtoastrategyofmobilisingsavingsfromthissegment.

14Source:http://www.itad.com/reports/briefing-paper-savings-count/

None:48%KYCrequirements:19%Regulationofserviceuse:19%Lackofregulation:10%

Figure22:Majorbarriersandchallengestosustainability,31December2017

What is the major regulatory barrier, if any, to develop financial inclusion in your country?

Accordingtothe2018SavingsCountreportpublishedbyItad14,factorsthatinfluencethebusinesscaseforfinancialinclusionaregovernmentregulationandthefinancialinclusionpolicy–suchasfinancialinstitutionsthatareorarenotabletoobtaindeposit-takinglicensesaswellasfinancialinstitutionsthatcanorcannotusetieredKYCrequirements.

Forexample,many recentfinancial inclusion initiatives fromfinancialsectorauthoritiesinSub-SaharanAfricaweredonetoimprovetheregulatoryenvi-ronment,suchas:

• Clearregulationsthatdistinguishbetweene-moneyanddeposits;• Regulationthatallowstheuseofagentstofacilitatetransactionsand

accountopening;• Nationalfinancialinclusionstrategies;• Recipientsofgovernmenttransfersthatareencouraged/mandatedto

openanaccounttoreceivetheirfunds.• Deposit-taking institutions that are required to offer basic financial

productssuchasabasicaccount;• Simplificationsorexemptionstocustomerduediligencerequirements;• Providingexceptionstocustomerduediligence,taxincentives,orsub-

sidies;and• Paymentofinterestonmobilemoneyaccounts.

The localsocio-economiccontextmattersaswell.Difficultsocio-economicconditionsandcurrencydevaluationsinmanyAfricanmarketsarenegative-lyaffecting thefinancial inclusionprogress.As theScale2Saveprogrammemoves forward,market research data from the projects in six countries inAfricawillbeavailableforthenextreport,whichwillevaluatetheimpactofthiscontextoncustomerwell-being.



and retail banks?

page 47ConclusionConclusion

SavingsandretailbanksinAfricahaveasubstantialaccountoffertoimprovefinancialaccessto thefinanciallydisadvantaged.Despitesomanytypesofaccountsofferedtomeetpeople’sneeds,theyfallshortoncustomercentric-ity.Itrequiresreformoftheirbusinessmodeltoimprovethecustomerjourneyfromopeninganaccounttowardsactuallyusingitwhileensuringprofitsforthebank.

Accounts not adapted to customer need; usability suffersDespiteavarietyoftransactionandsavingsaccountsofferedthatseemtobetargetedcarefullybythesurveyedfinancial institutions,productvalueprop-ositionsdonotseemadaptedtocustomerneeds.Ifthispersists,bankswillcontinue to face lowaccount takeupby futurecustomersandsluggish tonon-existentactivityrateswillfester.Theaccountdormancyconundrumwillbeexploredfurtherinthesubsequentreportscovering2019,2020and2021throughmore insight gathered on customer demand for financial services.Inaddition,thereportraisedthequestionifhavingmoreaccountsofferedtocustomersisbringingrealvaluetocustomers?Ordoesthisjustaddtocostswithoutprovidingmuchvalue?Doesprovidingalargevarietyofproductsleadtoimprovedcustomerusability?

04Conclusion

Affordability gap persists, pushing out low-income segmentAnybusinesscasethatincludeshighaccountfeesandsavinginterestratesisbound to fail for thissegment.Tooptimise thebusinessmodel, financialinstitutionsneedtobemorecustomercentric.Furtherdataonthecustom-eraffordabilityenvelopeforfinancialserviceswillbeanalysedinthecoming reportsfrom2019to2021.

High-tech accessibility hampered by start-up costs; customer reach suffersSurveyresultsshowappetitebyrespondentstoscale-upalternativedeliverychannels.Feedbackindicatesthesechannelsarecommonlyusedbythefi-nancialinstitutionssurveyed,butthesepathwaystoconnectwithcustomershaveapricetagthatweighsdowntheiralreadylimitedoperatingbudget.Theupfront investment costs are an especially heavy burden,while outlays forcontinuoustrainingandmonitoringareoftentimesneglected.Ifmobilebank-ingcontinuestoexplodeinAfrica,thenspendingondigitalplatformswillneedtotakeholdorexpand.

Partneringwithmobilenetworkoperators,ornewplayerssuchasFinTechs,couldlowercosts,butmoreanalysisonthisisneeded.Anothercostconcernraisedrelatedtouseofmobilevansorpostaloffices.Thosealternativechan-nelsalsorequirethoroughanalysistoseeifandhowtheystillservetheirroleinacost-effective,customer-centricway.

Threadbare margins remain a challenge to bank sustainability Tooperatesustainably,bankstakeintoconsiderationmacro-economicenvi-ronmentsaswellasregulatoryandsocio-economicfactors.Policyatgovern-mentorbusinesslevelmustkeepinmindthatbanksoperatewithinrazor-thinprofitmarginswhenofferingfinancially inclusiveproducts likesmall-balancesavingsaccounts.Otherfactorsaffectingthesustainabilitypillarforbankswillbeidentifiedandconsideredforinclusioninsubsequentreports.Asthisreportisthebenchmarkforreportsthatfollowduringthenextthreeyears,morein-depthanalysisandrecommendationswillbeprovidedinlatereditionswiththeintenttotriggerinterestintwomainbankingindustry-specificareas:universalfinancialaccessandpublicpolicyapproachestogetthere.

page 49AnnexesAnnexes

WSBIcreatedin2016anewprogrammesupportedbyMastercardFoundation“to establish the viability of low balance savings accounts and use of customer-centric approaches to address barriers faced in access, usage and affordability of savings services”.

CalledScale2Save,theprogrammeissetagainstabackdropofproblemssuchashighpovertyratesandfinancialexclusioninsub-SaharanAfricaaswellaslowformalsavingsrates.Financialserviceprovidershaveapoorunderstandingofthemarketsavingspotentialofvariouslow-incomesegments–notably,butnotexclusively,youngadultslivinginsomeoneelse’shome.Customerandpotentialcustomerneeds–andhowmuchtheycanaffordtopaytomeetthoseneeds–areinadequatelyreflectedintheirbusinessmodels,customerinterfacesandinteractions. The resulting poor customer experience gives rise to extremelyhigh incidencesofbankaccountdormancyand inactivity,whichrepresentsasignificantdrainoncostsandthusunderminespotentiallysustainablebusinesscasestodeliveraccessiblefinancialservicestothesesegments.

TheScale2Saveprogramme’scoreactivitiesareto:

Provide banks with technical assistance to banks to develop savings services valued by low-income clients WSBIworkswithsevenbankstodevelopanddeliversavingsproductsthatnotonly increaseaccesstofinancialservicesbutalsodriveongoingusageofthoseservices.Thebanksare locatedinCoted’Ivoire,Kenya,Morocco,Nigeria, Senegal, and Uganda. A bank in Tanzania acts as a knowledgepartner.

Conduct research and share lessons between partner banks WSBI publishes the annual report “Savings and Retail Banking in Africa”to facilitate peer learning and knowledge dissemination. The institute alsoresearches newpricingmodels to help establish a business case for low-balance savings, and conducts household research to contribute to theknowledgebaseonintra-householdcash-flows.

Communicate learnings to the wider sector WSBIhasdevelopedandimplementedatargetedcommunicationsstrategytodisseminatetheknowledgecreatedbytheprojecttokeystakeholders.

Monitor and evaluate the programme WSBImonitorsprojectprogressatpartnerbanksandoverseesmid-termandfinalprojectevaluations.

TheprogrammestartedinSeptember2016andwillcontinueuntilFebruary2022.

05Annexes

5.1. Background

page 51

Foundedin1924,WSBIisaninternationalbankingassociationcommittedtohelpsavingsandretailbanksthrive.Todothis itrepresentstheinterestsofapproximately6,000banksonallcontinents.

Asaworldwideorganisation,WSBIfocusesoninternationalregulatoryissuesthataffectthesavingsandretailbankingindustry.ItsupportstheaimsoftheG20 inachievingsustainable, inclusive,andbalancedgrowth, jobcreation,whetherinindustrialisedorlessdevelopedcountries.Supportingadiversifiedrangeoffinancialservicestomeetcustomerneed,WSBIfavoursaninclusiveformofglobalisation that is just and fair. It supports international efforts toadvancefinancialaccessandfinancialusageforeveryone.

WSBIhasmembersin80countriesintheAmericas,Africa,AsiaandEurope.Thesemembersareeither individual financial institutionsorassociationsofretailbanks.Allmembersshare threecharacteristics: theyareactive in theretailbankingsegment,haveastrongregionalpresenceandshowarespon-sibleattitudetowardsbusinessandsociety.Thetotalassetsofallmemberbanksamounttomorethan$15,000billion,non-bankdepositstomorethan$5,300billion.WSBImembersarecommittedtofurtherunleashthepromiseofsustainable,responsible21st-centurybanking.

WSBI and financial inclusion: A brief historyWSBI’sfinancial inclusionjourneydatesbackto1924withtheinaugurationofthefirstWorldSavingsDayandhascontinuedoverthedecades.In2003,WSBI published research that revealed an estimated 1.4 billion low-cost/low-balancesavingsaccountsworldwide,ofwhich1.1billionaccountsweremanagedbyWSBI’smemberbanks.Followingfurtherresearch,theinstitutelauncheditsprogramme‘WSBIDoublingSavingsAccounts’in2008andcon-cludeditsuccessfullyin2016.Buildingonextensivelearning,WSBInowsetsoutonitsnextstageinthejourneythroughtheScale2Saveprogramme.

TheMastercardFoundationseeksaworldwhereeveryonehastheopportuni-tytolearnandprosper.TheFoundation’sworkisguidedbyitsmissiontoad-vancelearningandpromotefinancialinclusionforpeoplelivinginpoverty.Oneofthelargestfoundationsintheworld,itworksalmostexclusivelyinAfrica.Itwascreatedin2006byMastercardInternationalandoperatesindependentlyunderthegovernanceofitsownBoardofDirectors.TheFoundationisbasedinToronto,Canada.FormoreinformationandtosignupfortheFoundation’snewsletter, please visit www.mastercardfdn.org. Follow the Foundation at @MastercardFdnonTwitter.

About WSBI About Mastercard Foundation

AnnexesAnnexes

A Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) group in Tanzania

page 53

5.2. Methodology

Thereportprovidesaquantitativeandqualitativeassessment of financial access provision by asampleofsavingsandretailbanksinAfrica.

The study started in February 2018with a pri-mary-dataresearchphase.AsurveywassenttoWSBI‘s34Africanmemberstogatherdataabouttheir financial products and activity, customerprofile,distributionchannelsandinvestmentandrevenues(AnnexI:completesurvey).Eachmet-ricinthesurveyhadtobedefinedtoenablethecomparability of thedatabetweenWSBImem-bers. Definitions of eachmetric are provided inthesurveyform.

To incentivise participation, respondents whosubmittedthesurveyresponsesreceivedacon-fidential, customised benchmarking report thatwould allow them to gauge their performancerelativetoothersavingsandretailbanks inAfri-ca.Participantswereguaranteedthattheirsub-missionswouldremainconfidentialaccordingtotheWSBI’s standard policy on handling propri-etary information supplied by itsmembers. Forthisreason,thereportonlypresentsaggregatedandanonymisedresults,exceptwhereanexplicitpermission isgivenbyamember toreveal theiridentityandsubmitteddata.

After the first round of data collection, surveysfrom 16 WSBI members were received. Re-sponseswere checked for internal consistency,butsomeofthefieldsinthesurveywerenotop-timalandneeded tobefilledoutorclarified forthe survey tobeconsideredcomplete. In addi-tion, the16responseswerenotsufficient toberepresentativeofAfricaconsidering the regionaland income level distribution. Therefore, a sec-ondroundofdatacollectionwasruninJuly2018tovalidatethedataalreadyreceivedandfurtherrequest additional survey responses in order toachieve a representative sample of each regionandincomelevel.

In addition, interviews at partner banks in fourcountrieswereconductedusingastandardsetofquestionstodevelopadeeperunderstandingoftheanswersreportedinthesurveys.Trendswereidentifiedafteranalysisofqualitativefindingsfromthesediscussionsalongsidequantitativefindingsfromthesurvey.

Intotal,24completedsurveyswerecollectedin2018with the following regional representation:two from Northern Africa, seven from WesternAfrica,eightfromEasternAfricaandsevenfromSouthernAfrica.Basedonincomelevel,12sur-veyswerecollected fromcountriesclassifiedaslower incomelevel,eightfromthoseconsideredlower-middleincomeandfourfromupper-middleincomecountries.Thesedatacollectedcovered20Africancountriesrepresentativeof32%ofAf-rica’sthetotalactivepopulation15.

Following this primary data research phase,deeper secondary data research was conduct-edtocoverthemissinginformationonboththedemand and supply sides. This second phaseincluded an analysis of the 2017Global Findexdatabase16.

Research performed includes market researchdatafromcollectedfromScale2Saveprojects,areviewof thebi-annual “SavingsCountReport”produced by Itad17 as part of the MastercardFoundationSavings Learning Lab and other lit-eratureresearch.

AnnexesAnnexes

15Source:WorldBankdatabase,Data_Extract_From_World_Development_Indicators201716TheGlobalFindexdatabasewascreatedbytheWorldBankwiththefundingfromtheBill&MelindaGatesFoundation.Thedatabaseofferstheworld’smostcomprehensivedatasetonhowadultssave,borrow,makepayments,andmanageriskinmorethan140economiesaroundtheworld.Theinitialsurveyroundwaslaunchedin2011followedbyasecondonein2014andbyathirdin2017.Source:http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=global-financial-inclusion17The2018SavingsCountreportprovidesacomprehensiveaccountofthestateofaccesstoanduseofsavingsinSub-SaharanAfrica,basedonadetailedreviewofcurrentliteratureanddata.Source:http://www.itad.com/reports/briefing-paper-savings-count/

WSBIsurveycovering20Africancountries,31December2017

page 55

5.3. Complete survey 5.4. Glossary

Thesurveyquestionnaireisavailableathttp://www.wsbi-esbg.org/scale2save/survey/

Account Alltransactionandcurrentaccounts,termdeposits,savingsandmobileaccountsheldwithafinancialinstitution,whichallowsfordeposits,withdrawals,andfundtransfersbytheaccountholdertothirdpartiesaswellassendingandreceivingpaymentsintothisaccount.

Active account Accountthathasbeenusedtoperformatleastonetransaction,suchascashintoaccount,cashoutfromaccount,P2Ppayment,billpayment,orbulkpaymentfromaccount,fortheperiod,excludingbalanceinquiries,PINresets,andothertransactionsthatdonotinvolvethemovementofvalue.

Agents Individualsorbusinessesentitledtoactonbehalfofafinancialserviceprovider(FSP)toperformcertainfinancialoradministrativetransac-tions.Theymayhaveadirectcon-tractualrelationshipwiththeFSPormaybecontractedbyathirdparty(super-agent,aggregator)whomaintainsaserviceagreementwiththeFSP. Alternative delivery channels Anychannelthatisnotafull-servicebrick-and-mortarbranch,andwhichoffersafullrangeoffinancialservices.Theyincludeagents,ATMs,merchants,mobilebanking,androvingstaff.

Automated Teller Machines, or ATMs Machineswithafixedlocationthatcustomersusetoaccessservices.Theymaybeaccessedthroughdifferentidentificationmeans–suchasacard,personalidentificationnumber(PIN),orbiometrics–andusedfordifferentkindsofcashornon-cash-basedoperationsthatincludedepositsandwithdrawalsaswellas,transfers,accountbal-anceconsultation,amongothers.TheymaybeproprietaryATMsormanagedbythirdparties.

Branches Staffedpointsofserviceandad-ministrativesites/branchesusedtodeliverorsupportthedeliveryoffinancialservicesandwidearrayofface-to-faceandautomatedservicestoclients.

Large enterprises Allenterprises,non-subsidiary,independentfirmswhicharenotincludedintheMSMEstermbelow.

Merchants Thoseusingaphysicalpaymentprocessingdevicelocatedatthemerchant’splaceofbusiness,suchaspointofsale(POS),toacceptpaymentforsalesofitsgoodsorservicesfromthefinancialinstitution’s(FI)customersusingthecustomer’sFIidentificationmeans,beacardorother.ThemerchantcouldbeacquiredbytheFI,orsim-plypartofanetworkenablingthemerchanttoprocesspayments.

Mobile account Allaccountswhichallowfortrans-actionstoorfromotheraccountsthroughamobilephone.

Mobile banking MobileservicesbasedonUSSDorSMScommunicationsthatclientscanaccessthroughtheirowndevice.

MSMEs Non-subsidiary,independentfirmswhichincludeatleasttwoofthreecharacteristics:(i)Employees<300;(ii)Assets<$15million;(iii)Annualturnover<$15million.

Roving staff Unitsthatservecustomersoutsidethebranchandintheirplaceofresidenceorbusiness.Theymayormaynotbeassociatedtoapar-ticularbranch.Onlystafformobileunitsthatmanagedepositsorhandleaccountopening,otherthanloanorigination,shouldbecountedinthiscategory.

Savings product Termdepositsanddemandsavingsaccountsandexcludestransactionorcurrentaccounts.

Self-help support group Groupoflow-incomepeoplewhocometogethertosaveandguaranteeoneanother’sloans.Theconcepthasseveralforms,includingVillageBanks,Self-helpGroups,VillageSavingsandLoanAssociations(VSLAs),VillageCom-munityBanks.

Transaction account Allindividualtransactionaccountsandcurrentaccounts.

Savings account Alltermdepositsandsavingsaccounts.

AnnexesAnnexes

page 57AcknowledgmentsAcknowledgments

TheWSBIwouldliketoexpressaspecialthankstoitsAfricanmemberswhoparticipated in the survey andbrought invaluable insight into their financialinclusionwork:• Agribank• AlBaridBank-LaPosteduMaroc• BancodePoupançaeCrédito• BanqueMaliennedeSolidarité• BanquePopulairepourl’EpargneetleCréditduTogo• BotswanaSavingsBank• Caissed’EpargnedeMadagascar• CaisseNationaledesCaissesd’EpargnedeCôted’Ivoire• CaixaEconómicadeCaboVerde• CentenaryBankUganda• HFCBank• KenyaPostOfficeSavingsBank• LaPosteTunisienne• LesothoPostBank• People’sOwnSavingsBankZimbabwe• PostbankSouthAfrica• PostBankUganda• PostefinancesSénégal• PrideMicrofinance• SavingsandSocialDevelopmentBankSudan• SociétéNationaledesPostesduBurkinaFaso• SociétéNationaledesPostesetdesServicesFinanciersdesComores• TPBBank• UgandaFinanceTrust

Inaddition,thisreportwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthecontributionofourpartners,MastercardFoundationandItad,whoofferedvaluableinput.AdditionalthankstoIanRadcliffe,WeselinaAngelow,CélineStevens,VivianeGarceauandJamesPieper fromWSBI for theirhelp in thecreationof thisreport.

06Acknowledgments

page 59

List of Figures

Figure1:Numberofaccountsofferedbythebanks,31December2017 16Figure2:Numberofsavingsproductsofferedbythebanks,31December2017 17Figure3:Customerprofilestargetedbythebanks,31December2017 17Figure4:Characteristicsofthesavingsproductsthatthebanksthink thecustomerslikethemost,31December2017 18Figure5:Reasonsfornotopeninganaccount,WorldBankGlobalFindex,2017 19Figure6:Sourceofsavings,WorldBankGlobalFindex,2017 20Figure7:Percentageofactivesavingsandtransactionaccountsduringsecondhalf2017 23Figure8:Percentageofactivesavingsandtransactionaccountsduringfullyear2017 23Figure9:Numberoftransactionsperaccountduringthelast12monthsfrom31December’17 23Figure10:Paymentanddeposit/withdrawalactivity,WorldBankGlobalFindex,2017 24Figure11:Percentageofbanksreportingtransactionaccountfees,31December2017 27Figure12:Percentageofbanksreportingsavingsaccountfees,31December2017 27Figure13:Percentageofbanksreportingmobileaccountfees,December2017 27Figure14:Transactionaccountcharacteristics,31December2017 28Figure15:Savingsaccountcharacteristics,31December2017 28Figure16:Mobileaccountcharacteristics,31December2017 28Figure17:Channelsofferedbythebankstoaccesssavings,31December2017 34Figure18:Priorityfocuschannelsofthebanksforthenext12months,31December2017 35Figure19:Barriersofthebankstodevelopnewchannelsofdistribution,31December2017 37Figure20:Perceptionsofthebanksonthelowbalancesavingsaccounts,31December2017 43Figure21:Criteriaforlowbalancesavingsaccounttobesustainable,31December2017 43Figure22:Majorbarriersandchallengestosustainability,31December2017 44

MicroSavings Maximum Impact

https://www.wsbi-esbg.org/KnowledgeSharing/scale2save

Published: January 2019