IFC Digital Finance Tools: Building Relationships

This part of the IFC Digital Finance Tools describes the advantages and potential challenges of building partnerships and engaging other entities to take advantage of the potential of M-banking.

Tool 1. ACCION Report - Engaging MFIs in Digital Finance

Since many MFSPs and other parties are interested in partnering with microfinance institutions as a means of extending the agent network and attracting additional customers, this report from ACCION International describes ten obstacles that stand in the way of progress as well as approaches to overcome them.

Tool 2. CGAP Report - Microfinance and Mobile Banking 

MFIs are eager to take advantage of the potential of m-banking to bring convenient and low-cost access to financial services to customers’ fingertips. The document analyzes how both MFIs and their customers will benefit from the intersection of m-banking and microfinance.

Tool 3. GSMA Report - Structuring Operator - Bank Relationships

This tool introduces the idea of the “business owner”: the bank, operator, or third party that assumes the bulk of the financial risk of offering a mobile money service. The business owner contracts with other entities to undertake the activities in the mobile money value chain it chooses not to operate itself. The document presents an evaluation of which party—a bank, an operator, or a third-party—has the most relevant assets and capabilities for each task.