Cost savings

Digital payments: Save time, save costs, save lives

Transforming Financial Systems for the Poor: Report Shows Digital Advances Can Unlock Cost Savings of 90 Percent

In looking at ways to bring financial services to the more than two billion people outside formal financial systems, often the focus has been on piecemeal efforts to improve specific element…

Saving Money, Saving Lives: A Case Study on the Benefits of Digitizing Payments to Ebola Response Workers in Sierra Leone

This case study sets out key lessons from Sierra Leone’s experience using digital payments to help combat Ebola.

Saving $15.5 million by replacing cash with cards for Colombian coffee farmers

Two case studies from the Better Than Cash Alliance present innovations from Colombia’s digital payments ecosystem

Shift to Electronic Payments Saves Mexican Government US$1.27 Billion Annually

Study concludes Mexico’s savings and other benefits and provides tangible lessons for other nations…

Digitization of payments in Mexico saves billions

The Mexican government is saving an estimated US$ 1.27 billion per year, or 3.3 percent of its total expenditure, on wages, pensions and social transfers. How? By digitizing and centralizing…

New United Nations study finds digital payments to Ebola response workers saved lives and $10 million

By using digital payments to pay Ebola response workers, Sierra Leone massively cut payment times, avoiding large-scale strikes and ensuring a stable workforce to defeat Ebola. Sierra Leone…

New UN report reveals momentum for digital payments in Ghana could save over GHS 1 billion within next four years

With 37 percent of the value of all payments now made digitally, Ghana is on course to be a leader in the region, with great potential to expand economic opportunities for businesses…

The Cost of Cash to Ghana’s Cocoa Sector

Digital payments can help make the sector more efficient, transparent, and secure for companies and people alike.

New Study Identifies How Much Mexican Government Saves Annually After Shift to Electronic Payments

Study concludes Mexico’s savings and other benefits and provides tangible lessons for other nations…

The Journey Toward Cash Lite-Addressing Poverty Saving Money and Increasing Transparency by Accelerating the Shift to Electronic Payments

This study examines the three shifts to electronic payments and aggregates the findings of a range of studies about the benefits of electronic payment adoption.

Mexico saves a billion dollars annually by going digital

This case study is the first of a series of Better Than Cash Alliance case studies examining the how and why of shifting to electronic payments.

Sustained Effort, Saving Billions: Lessons from the Mexican Government’s Shift to Electronic Payments

In the first of The Better Than Cash Alliance Case Study Series to be released, researchers identify the many billions that are estimated to be saved by the Mexican government each year.

State of Maryland: Significant savings and improved convenience with electronic payments

The State of Maryland needed a faster, more reliable and more cost effective way of making unemployment benefit payments to citizens who depended on them.

The State’s original process was…

The Impact of Formal Savings on Salaried Workers’ Spending and Borrowing in Eastern Ghana

This J-PAL study looks at the impact of commitment savings linked to electronic salary payments. While the results varied for different users, the research highlights the importance of using…

The Hidden Costs of Cash to Ghana’s Cocoa Sector

New report reveals the cocoa sector in Ghana faces avoidable costs and inefficiencies representing 19% of revenues.

Country Diagnostic: Viet Nam

Digital payments enable inclusive growth and advance the Sustainable Development Goals, through cost savings, increased transparency, financial inclusion and greater women’s economic participation.

Saving by Default: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Rural India

Access to banks is rapidly increasing worldwide, and allows account-based instead of cash transfers. We conduct a randomized experiment documenting the impact of the payment method on saving…