Digital Finance Consumer Risks: Senegal National Study

This Slide Deck is a supplement to the official CGAP document "The Evolution of the Nature and Scale of DFS Consumer Risks: A Review of Evidence" (Feb 2022).

Digital financial services (DFS), in particular mobile money services, are driving the growth of financial inclusion in Senegal. The positive role of DFS is undeniable, offering numerous opportunities for Senegalese users. But at the same time, they have exacerbated existing risks to consumers and continue to introduce new risks which must be understood and addressed. To understand digital finance consumer risks in Senegal and in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), CGAP launched a DFS Consumer Protection Lab, which drives research and capacity building activities in the WAEMU region. Following the study in Côte d'Ivoire, a nationally representative phone survey among DFS users has been conducted in Senegal. It offers, for the first time, an overview of the risks they faced in the past year. For example:

• 90 percent were exposed to at least one risk related to the use of DFS, 32 percent lost money either by reacting to a fraudulent message, paying more than expected, or as a result of a malfunction during the transaction, and 39 percent faced difficulties related to their limited capacities.
• More than half of users (55 percent) were not informed of transaction costs before making a transaction. Fraud and scam attempts are a significant challenge experienced by users (43 percent). 
• Despite agents’ important role, about 86 percent of users have encountered at least one challenge with them in the past 12 months. Insufficient cash (44 percent of users), network issues preventing the transaction (37 percent), and lack of e-float (27 percent) are the dominant challenges.

To better prevent and mitigate these risks, all actors in the DFS ecosystem must mobilize and collaborate on building a responsible digital finance ecosystem—an approach championed by CGAP.

Disclaimer

This work was commissioned by CGAP and funded in whole or in part by CGAP as part of its Protecting Vulnerable Customers project. Unlike CGAP’s official publications, the viewpoints and conclusions expressed are those of the authors and they may or may not reflect the views of CGAP staff