IFC Digital Finance Tools: MFI Initiatives to Implement Mobile Financial Services

Microfinance Institutions have commercialized mass market finance in most economies of the world, but most MFIs are growth constrained by the limits of their traditional branch infrastructure. In the past decade, mobile phone operators have achieved penetration rates in the mass market that far exceed the reach of MFIs. Technology is now available for MFIs to leverage this mobile phone coverage into a mobile financial service (MFS) channel for delivering services beyond the reach of traditional branches. This section provides a series of documents on six promising MFI MFS implementations and a summary document that presents key findings.

Tool 1. Summary of Research Findings

The first tool provides summary of the research findings from all four case studies. 

Tool 2. Case Study: MBank

This document describes mBank operations in the Philippines. mBank was chosen for its unique model which relies wholly on the mobile channel to deliver financial services. Additionally, it has an innovative partnership with its telecom partner for expansion. Finally, mBank uses an automated credit appraisal method to set loan amounts for borrowers.

Tool 3. Case Study: Tameer Bank

This document describes the operations of EasyPaisa, a mobile money service jointly launched by Tameer Microfinance Bank and Telenor (also a majority shareholder in Tameer).

Tool 4. Case Study: Caja Sullana

This document describes Caja Sullana’s operations in Peru. The Caja was the first MFI to launch the banking correspondent channel in Peru. The bank relies on two different methodologies to offer its agent services, one outsourced agent network and one managed in-house.

Tool 5. Case Study: Musoni

This document describes Musoni’s operations in Kenya. It is the first microfinance institution (MFI) in the world whose operations and transactions are wholly mobile-based (100%).

Tool 6. Greenfield Microfinance in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Business Model to Advance Financial Inclusion

This document examines the role the greenfield MFI business model plays in increasing access to finance in the African context. A good number of greenfield MFIs on the continent now have sufficient track record to enable an analysis of their performance and role in the market. A stocktaking of the experience can help inform decisions that will shape the coming generation of investment in microfinance.

Tool 7. Greenfield Microfinance in Sub-Saharan Africa: Benchmarking Quality, Growth and Outreach

This document studies the impact of greenfields on the quality, breadth, and depth of financial services usage in Sub-Saharan Africa.