Global Panorama on Postal Financial Inclusion: Business Models and Key Issues

This report establishes a panorama of postal financial inclusion and presents the current status of this dimension in financial inclusion. It presents five groups of business models used by Posts to offer financial services and the eleven common factors that have proven to lead to their success. The paper also provides suggestions for postal financial inclusion action plans that involve postal operators, governments, central banks, and development partners. Current results indicate that the Post is a key lever in advancing the inclusion of unbanked populations into the formal financial system. It has the largest network of contact points in the world, but remains underused. The five main business models used by postal operators are:

• Cash merchant for government and financial services providers;
• Proprietary transactional financial services;
• Partnership with a financial service provider;
• Unlicensed postal financial services;
• Licensed postal financial services.

Common factors that have been proven to lead to success, but can become challenges for Posts include network, staff, financial capacity, trust, automation, and process integration.