Chinese philosopher Laozi is quoted as saying that a
thousand mile journey begins with a single step. I thought of that proverb when
I recently had the opportunity to visit the far north east of China to
investigate opportunities for agent and mobile banking in rural communities. As
I outlined in my previous blog on the opportunity
for mobile money in China, there have been positive developments from a
regulatory perspective recently. The People’s Bank of China is supporting a
pilot this year to allow agent banking in some provinces with an aim to develop
financial services down to the village level.
This is very exciting, as although China
has banking penetration of 64%, access to finance through branches, ATMs
and other channels is another matter.
 |
| Village Life in Rural China in Winter |
I
had an interesting insight when I visited a village in China this week. By all
accounts,
China
has nearly 1 million villages, and from what I understand, it is unusual
for a village to have a bank branch or ATM (although I would love to see
research on the distribution of branches at the village level in China). This
presents significant challenges to the residents, who will often have to travel
many kilometers to reach a branch. Despite the fact that the cash economy
prevails, this barrier of access still presents issues, as rural residents will
often receive pensions or subsidies that will be paid into a bank account. In
addition, many villagers will spend much of the year working in larger cities
and industrial areas, so domestic remittances are common. Accessing these
payments when you live 30 kilometers from the nearest branch, you don’t own a
vehicle and it is minus 30 degrees presents significant challenges!
 |
| Typical Grocery Store in a Chinese Village |
A
merchant I spoke to was overcoming these challenges in a fascinating way. He
runs a small grocery store in a village of a couple of thousand people, and his
customers shared their frustrations on not being able to deposit or withdraw
cash from their bank accounts without visiting the nearest town some distance
away. His solution was simple and effective. He has set up an Internet banking
account with a PC and modem, and now does electronic transfer of cash from his
account to the recipient for a small fee. He also allows withdrawals when the
sender has transferred to his bank account. He sets transaction limits so he
can manage his own liquidity and he keeps a log book to track transactions. He
has also branched into prepaid airtime direct from his bank account where he
tops up the customer’s phone from his balance and receives a small cash
commission. In essence, he is a banking agent, albeit on an informal basis.
I am
always amazed at the ingenuity shown by customers and agents in emerging
markets. This example demonstrated to me that firstly, there is absolutely an
unfulfilled need for agent banking in China, and that secondly smart merchants
will realize this need and will embrace formal agent banking solutions as they
develop. I have said previously that I believe China and other markets in Asia
like
Bangladesh
and Pakistan will eclipse anything happening in mobile money in Africa once
the programs gather momentum and the regulatory environment is established.
China is on the cusp of an exciting time in financial inclusion.
- Brad Jones
Great blog, Brad. I love hearing stories of how innovators step in to fill the gaps that the big players don't provide. The idea that there is one person in a village who has a bank account and uses it to become an informal agent shows that there is a demand for agency services, and it could be easy for banks to tap into that demand if the right regulatory environment is in place.
ReplyDeleteIt's also interesting to see how these services develop in a market where the banks are highly functional for banked customers. There is a much greater value to providing access to a banked account in a country that has inter-bank switching, internet banking, relatively widespread ATMs and POS machines and large streams of formal payments than in an underdeveloped country where many banks are still antiquated and manual. A mobile wallet might be sufficient for most users in Kenya or Bangladesh, but I think a branchless banking service is more likely to win in Indonesia or China due to the more developed banking sectors.
I agree completely Mike. The solutions in China and Indonesia need to leverage existing infrastructure as much as possible. Mobile may not even be part of the solution. Computers, tablets, POS at the agent, and card for the customer may well fill the needs of the consumer for banking access.
ReplyDeleteEven if anecdot6al in its evidence, it does go to show that there are great access to finance issues in a county that features a large % of so called banked, purely arising out of G@P payments into a bank account. It also brings us back to the question: is someone who receives money into an account actually banked? Does the distinction between unbanked and underbanked make any sense?
ReplyDeleteI agree Margarete. What use is a bank account if you can't actually use it? There are millions of savings accounts in emerging markets I am sure that lay dormant, but enable us to tick off 'financially included' as a metric. And as you say, if you add those accounts which are just temporary receptacles for salaries or government payments, the number of unbanked is even higher.
ReplyDeleteHi, I like to stumble your post, and I wanted to say that I've genuinely enjoyed to gather such useful stuff.
ReplyDeleteeconomy india
Amazing story Brad. I believe same situation also in Indonesia mostly in remote villages in big islands like Sumatra, Borneo or Papua.
ReplyDeleteWe see great potential market for m-money/branchless banking service with agents in Indonesia. But as you know regulation is slow in responding this.
Very useful information.
ReplyDelete@ Mr. Alit Asmara Jaya I Gusti Ngurah- I would like to connect with you regarding branchless banking initiative and financial inclusion in Indonesia.
My company FINO have been following the latest developments in branchless banking across countries in general and Indonesia in particular and appreciate the efforts of your organization in reaching out to unbanked population through your branchless banking initiative for Financial Inclusion. It is in this regard that I write to you.
FINO PayTech is a business and banking technology platform combined with extensive services delivery channel that carries a vision to be the universally preferred choice of customers by fulfilling all financial service needs. FINO was founded on July 13, 2006 and is headquartered in Mumbai with offices across India. In a short period of time FINO has become the only technology solution and consulting provider in branchless banking with more than 63 Million customers serviced through 45,000 agent points in 460 districts across 26 states in India making it one of the largest branchless banking agent & technology management company in the world. We also have active engagements with banks in Nepal, Bangladesh, Ghana, Nigeria & Tanzania.
FINO offers its technology expertise as well as consulting services on branchless banking to banks, financial institutions, governments, micro-finance companies and insurance companies to reach out to the unbanked and under-banked population with multiple banking products.
Today, FINO has a well established ‘Consulting Practice’ that is primarily engaged in helping clients rethink and reinvent themselves to align their branchless banking & technology services with the changing needs of their customers, stakeholders and the forces of the market. FINO uses its consulting assets (team of consultants with expertise in Branchless Banking) to study and review its client’s existing strategy, processes, markets etc. and assess its alignment to long term business objectives with respect to the Branchless Banking initiative.
Kindly drop me a mail on 'ishan.goyal@finopaytech.com', so that we can discuss on it further in detail.