Incentivizing E/M-Banking Agents
This Note discusses the basics of incentivizing mobile-banking (m-banking) agents. It describes different types of incentives and experiences across different m-banking deployments.
Agents are the primary customer interface for m-banking implementation. Incentivizing agents is important to get them to wholly endorse the m-banking proposition, motivate them to mobilize customers, and to maintain float and perform transactions. MicroSave’s work across Africa, Asia and Latin America has revealed three types of commissions, namely, flat, percentage and tiered. The paper states that:
- Some m-money deployments allow agents to decide the final price they want to charge to customers;
- Most m-money deployments pay agents uniformly, but some use heterogeneous commission structures;
- Agents are paid directly or through aggregators;
- Modes of payment for agents include cash, bank transfers and electronic value payments;
- Agents reinvest in value on the basis of commissions received and should therefore be paid on time.
Agents should be incentivized because the success of the agent network managers hinges on their performance. The right incentive model, the right channel and frequency for payment of commission motivates agents to remain in the business and facilitate client transactions.
