Scale2Save Campaign
Micro savings, maximum impact.
Earlier this year, the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WBSI) programme for financial inclusion, Scale2Save, through the support of the Mastercard Foundation, hosted in-person knowledge exchangeevents in Nigeria and Uganda. The workshops were attended by practitioners and experts from the financial sector, research institutions, civil society, and the media. Across the two events there were manyinteresting discussions, however, the potential and challenges around digital financial inclusion (DFI) was a recurring theme across the two events. In this note we summarize key challenges and opportunitiesfor digital financial inclusion discussed during the two events as well as examples from Scale2Save partners and publications.
Authors: Amy Oyekunle and Daniel Joloba
This note was prepared by the Mastercard Foundation Savings Learning Lab, a six-year initiative
implemented by Itad to support learning among the Foundation’s savings sector portfolio programmes:
Scale2Save and Savings at the Frontier
DFI means providing digital access to formal financial services to excluded and underserved populations. Digital technology has played a significant role in changing the sector and advancing financial inclusion in recent years. This was particularly true during the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw an increased uptake of cashless services and clients using e-banking services, including mobile banking, Point-of-sales (PoS) transactions, and card payments. The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS) estimates the volume of ATM transactions has grown exponentially in the last six years, more than doubling since 2015 to over 850M in 20191 and USD 340,314 mobile payments per day in Uganda by 20212 Additionally, data from Bank of Uganda (BoU)3 indicates that the number of active debit cards increased by 12.4% from 2.59m in March 2021 to 2.91m in March 2022 while debit card transaction volumes increased by 28.01% from 4.4 million transactions in March 2021 to 5.68 million in March 2022. Credit card transaction volumes increased by 62% from 142,350 to 230,910 transactions over the same period. However, there is an indication that digital transactions are declining and returning to pre-Pandemic levels and there are still challenges that need to be overcome if digital is to deliver on its transformational potential. Challenges such as the limited interoperability for card payments as well as cyber security threats still hamper the wider use of the digital platform
What are those challenges, and why do they matter
Digital platforms can expand access to financial services, but they also exclude. Access to financial services, particularly digital financial services is highly gendered and fraught with inequalities Usage of digital accounts remains low: there has been a steady increase in digital accounts being opened
– 45.3 million bank accounts were opened in Nigeria in January 20226Infrastructure for digital transactions can be a barrier to access DFS: connectivity, electricity and
infrastructure required for digital financial inclusion are not always present or reliable in rural areasRegulations have improved but are still a barrier to many potential customers: Even though the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has simplified the Know-your-client (KYC) regulations required for clients to open
accounts through the three-tier system of using the Bank Verification Number and National IdentificationNumber (NIN), FSPs say this is still a challenge.Risks associated with digital transactions are high: Increased cases of accidental transactions and
security breaches associated with telcos and mobile apps are a deterrent to customers, diminishing trust
in an already fragile ecosystem.
Scale2Save
25/09/2023
WSBI as a catalyst for unlocking the potential of female entrepreneurs
13 October 2023, 9.30am-12pm Hôtel Du Golf Rotana Palmeraie, Marrakech I Morocco
01/03/2023
The State of Savings and Retail Banking in Africa
The WSBI has conducted two research reports tracking the progress of retail and savings banks in their financial inclusion efforts across Africa (2018, 2019).
22/02/2023
Driving Formal Savings: What Works for Low-Income Women?
While financial inclusion is expanding globally, the gender gap in access to financial services and products persists
19/12/2022
What a journey it has been!
Between 2016 and 2022 Scale2Save financially included more than 1.3 million women, young people and farmers in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal and
14/12/2022
The financial diaries revealed useful insights into young people’s savings, spending and income behavior
It examines their experience in respect to financial inclusion, support structures and opportunities for young entrepreneurs
09/12/2022
The Power of Community-Based Organizations to Mobilize Farmers’ Savings
In Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer, cocoa is harvested twice a year, in May-June and in October-December. Between seasons, most smallholder farmers do not generate revenue
15/11/2022
How Can Small Scale Savings Be Offered Sustainably?
Learnings from the Scale2Save Program on successful business and institutional models
15/11/2022
Application of CGAP Customer Outcomes Framework in Uganda
This case study by WSBI's Scale2Save programme applied the CGAP customer outcome indicator framework to test the impact of a new basic savings product positioned in the financial inclusion market and…
10/11/2022
Driving formal savings: What works for low-income women
Gender-inclusive products need to be designed with low-income women’s needs in mind. Yet, the real question remains: What services do female customers value, prioritize and need? This learning paper…
10/11/2022
The art of change
Leaning paper by WSBI's Scale2Save programme for financial inclusion in Africa. A practical approach to changing behaviors of financial service providers for more meaningful outreach to low-income…