Digital Payment Client Uptake: Warning Signs and Ways Forward

This paper presents cross-cutting issues affecting client uptake for mobile and other electronic payment platforms. The issues addressed are warning signs, recurrent themes that have impeded uptake in multiple contexts. The signs discussed include guilt by association, awareness of economic history, histories of frustrated expectations, design for frustration and suspicion, well-founded fears, ownership and access, interoperability with the physical world, and several others. The paper follows this up with a discussion on ways forward. They include:

• Denomination of banknotes and coins provide opportunities for mobile and electronic money development;
• Sonic and visual cues play an important role in financial transactions;
• People do not necessarily choose digital money, but when the circumstances demand it, they begin to adapt and adopt;
• Simplicity, convenience, and versatility of these services being provided under one roof makes them attractive for people on the ground;
• Usage and uptake patterns may differ for the same mobile money service depending on location;
• Short-cycle savings, small amount lending, and mobilization of value play an important role.