Paper

Mobilizing Banking for Indonesia’s Poor

Promoting the uptake of mobile financial services and branchless banking in Indonesia
This report attempts to assess the demand for mobile financial services and branchless banking (MFS/BB) among poor Indonesians and suggests how businesses should design and market MFS/BB products to incentivize adoption. It also evaluates the factors that regulators should consider when designing MFS/BB regulations. The report conducts a study of consumer preferences to derive three design principles that reflect what poor consumers demand most in financial services: accessibility, affordability, and security. The paper also provides recommendations to increase adoption of MFS/BB services which include:
  • Expand networks of MFS/BB agents to include informal, unlicensed businesses;
  • Use key influencers to socialize new products;
  • Allow unlicensed businesses to act as MFS/BB agents in order to expand the cash-in/cash-out network to the community level;
  • Empower agents to register new customers away from bank branches and mobile network operators (MNOs) branch offices;
  • Allow MFS/BB service providers to offer savings accounts and microloans in addition to payments and transfers.