Papua New Guinea: Women’s Micro-bank to Open Access Centers to Test New Branchless Banking Model

A new branchless banking solution will be piloted at six locations in Papua New Guinea (PNG) with the aim to provide basic financial services to PNG’s unbanked women.

Women’s Micro-Bank Limited (WMBL) through a partnership with UNCDF’s Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP) will set-up Mama-Bank Access Points (MAPs) across the country using a low-cost structure. Each MAP will be managed by two staff that are equipped with tablets that uses biometric technology to identify customers and authenticate transactions. This solution will help WMBL to overcome many of the identification challenges that financial service providers in PNG are facing. The new technology also allows WMBL to perform transactions in off-line mode to address the connectivity issues in many remote areas in PNG.