Responsible Practices to Address Seven Major Risks in COVID-19 Digital Financial Transfers Toolkit

The Report Responsible Practices to Address Seven Major Risks in COVID-19 Digital Financial Transfers identifies seven heightened risks resulting from the speed and scale of COVID-19 digital transfer responses.

Central Bank of Philippines : Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Notes Necessity of E-payments During ECQ

Banks told to augment digital channels

E-payments pushed amid lockdown

How to improve adoption among merchants

This study finds that perceived value addition for the customers and usefulness of technology are important determinants of adoption of mobile wallet technology among merchants. 

BSP Holds Digital Payments Leaders Summit as the Country Moves Closer to a Cash-lite Economy

Country Diagnostic: The Philippines (2019 edition)

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Philippine Government recognize digital payments as a policy priority to enable Filipinos to seize the opportunities of the digital revolution.

Global evidence on contribution of MSMEs

New ILO study reveals seven in 10 workers are self-employed or in small businesses. The study also finds that an average of 62% of employment (in the 99 countries studied) is in the informal sector. It calls for creating an enabling environment for these businesses and supporting them through access to finance and digital infrastructure.

How mobile phones improve market efficiency?

How does the rollout of mobile phone network impact small traders and improve market efficiency? This paper finds that mobile phone network rollout, that allowed traders better access to market information, led to a 10-13% reduction in price dispersion of maize crop.

Leveraging Digital Financial Solutions to Promote Formal Business Participation

Can digital financial services help bring them into the tax net? The answer is not simple, but quality infrastructure based on RDPGs is an integral part of the puzzle. Read the new World Bank working paper that also includes learnings from Uruguay on this topic.

Tienda Pago’s Digital Solution for Fast-Moving Consumer Goods

This case study aims to extrapolate some preliminary lessons from Tienda Pago’s model, including its challenges and potential for scale. The study is informed by distributor and customer interviews and qualitative research,7 which sought to map characteristics of merchant clients and analyze both drivers and barriers to product usage and uptake.

bKash: Revolutionizing Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh?

This study discusses the emergence of bKash as the m-banking pioneer in Bangladesh. It focuses on the services provided by bKash and its current operating scenario in Bangladesh.

Blockchain and supply chain management integration: a systematic review of the literature

This paper aims to identify, analyse and organise the literature about blockchains in supply chain management (SCM) context (blockchain–SCM integration) and proposes an agenda for future research.

“Botón PSE ha transformado el panorama de pagos en Colombia”

Entrevista a Gustavo Vega, Presidente de la empresa ACH Colombia

“Botón PSE has changed the payment landscape in Colombia”

Interview with Gustavo Vega, President of the clearing house ACH Colombia

Understanding merchant payments landscape 

A new Karandaaz study shows that around 95% of merchants in Pakistan do not accept digital payments. To promote adoption, it calls for creating awareness among users, better infrastructure, interoperability and reliability of services.

Mobile-delivered economic ID for inclusion of SMEs

Unregistered SMEs account for 65% of Nigeria's GDP. Most of them often struggle to demonstrate their personal and business credentials to service providers and customers. This GSMA research finds that there is a need for new approaches to identity and mobile-delivered ‘economic ID’ solution holds promise.

The Effect of Payment Choices on Online Retail: Evidence from the 2016 Indian Demonetization

This Harvard Business School paper analyzes more than 2.5 million transactions from a leading online retailer to investigate the effects of payment digitization on the online retail industry. It concludes that consumers who switch to digital payments maintain their purchase frequency but spend more and are less likely to return their purchases.

Perspectives from SME banking leaders

New IFC report aggregates responses from 114 SME banking executives serving more than 17.5 million small businesses. Half of the respondents identified credit risks as a major pain point and more than half said that they would invest in technology systems as a priority if given the chance.

DLT: Keep Calm and Let the Evidence Speak

Blockchain Series: Blog 3