Practical Advice to Reach a Tipping Point in M-Banking Solutions

This briefing note provides pointers and ideas for achieving scale in mobile-banking (m-banking).

The success of the m-banking industry worldwide has made it possible to determine the steps that providers have taken to reach scale. Drawing from various success stories, the brief makes the following suggestions:

• Provide value in addition to cash;
• Incentivize customers;
• Build an agent network;
• Incentivize agents;
• Build staff familiarity with the solution;
• Determine characteristics of key agents;
• Use existing relationships;
• Build customer and agent networks simultaneously;
• Develop sub-agents;
• Build key transaction drivers;
• Communicate relevance to customers;
• Learn from mistakes;
• Ensure motivated actors;
• Target early adopters;
• Add value to existing transaction drivers.

It is important to get the economics right, so that the chain of transactions continue, in order to leverage the full potential of m-banking. The briefing note states that m-banking in building infrastructure which will be leveraged in many ways in the future.