WSBI Doubling Savings Accounts Program
The Journey 2008-2016
The challenge
More than two billion adults do not have a bank account or use other formal financial services. This is not only because of the challenges of living in poverty, but also due to barriers such as cost and travel distance.
Access to formal financial services can help people to protect their earnings, weather personal financial crises, send and receive payments, and better manage their farms and small businesses.
Objectives of WSBI Doubling Savings Account Program
The WSBI Doubling Savings Account Programme aimed to double the number of savings acounts among poor people at 10 WSBI member banks in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The program helped these retail and postal banks to:
implement the technological changes needed to support new agent networks
implement international best practice on managing agency network risk
re-engineer business processes and IT systems to improve service levels
make existing deposit and payments services more useful for the poor
develop new low-cost savings products for the poor
develop and implement a communications strategy to support network expansion
offer proximity mapping for geo-locating community centres and agents
advise on pricing strategy and longer-term business planning
support "linkage banking" through existing social networks, such as village savings and loan associations (VSLAs), village community banks (VICOBAs), and local women’s groups
enter partnerships with mobile network operators and microfinance institutions
use data analytics to assess and improve customer take-up and activity, and develop behavioural and propensity models
adopt participatory co-creation approaches to better understand customer needs.
Program details
| Project | Doubling Savings Accounts |
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| Goal | To encourage active use and take-up of savings accounts with WSBI member banks among poor people |
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| How | Support WSBI members with technical assistance and capital equipment. Provide sub-grants to WSBI member banks. |
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| Period | 2008–2016 |
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| Active in | Burkina Faso, El Salvador, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Lesotho, Morocco, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, Sri Lanka |
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| Partners |
Kenya Post Office Savings Bank,
Lesotho Postbank,
Postbank Uganda,
Al Barid Bank,
BTN,
SONAPOST,
Fedecrédito,
South Africa Postbank,
Tanzania Postal Bank,
Lien Viet Post Bank,
HFC Bank,
BSN Sri Lanka |
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| Programme cost | $20 million
The program was supported with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |
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| Contact | Ian Radcliffe, Programme Director,
ian.radcliffe@wsbi-esbg.org Weselina Angelow, Programme Manager,
weselina.angelow@wsbi-esbg.org |
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The programme was active in:
>> The journey continues: Scale2Save in Africa