Digital Finance Ensures Inclusion

Digital Finance Ensures Inclusion

Financial inclusion can be defined as a state whereby Individuals and businesses have access to meaningful and affordable financial products and services. It means that customers regardless of their geographical location, ethnic, social-cultural, educational, or economic background have access to suitable financial products while ensuring the fairness in service delivery and at a reasonable cost.

The popularity of financial inclusion is because of the role it plays in reducing poverty and boosting prosperity. Financial inclusion is generally measured in terms of access of people and business to a bank account. Having a bank account means that people can save, send and receive payments as such people are connected with one of the important parts of life - Banking. Such an account serves as a starting point for the users to facilitate day to day living, make immediate and long-term financial plans, make use of wide varieties of financial services, etc.

Access

Access to finance at present is not only limited to have a bank account in physical banks. With the use of modern technology in the field of banking and finance, financial services are offered through mobile phones, personal computers, the internet, or via linkage of the card to a digital payment platform is known as digital financial services(DFS). For any product offerings to be called DFS, it should enable the users to perform basic banking functions like payments, savings, borrowings, etc making use of the internet, and without having to go to the physical branch location. DFS is a broad terminology and also includes Mobile Financial Services(MFS) which means the use of a mobile phone to access financial service and execute financial transactions.

Historically financial inclusiveness throughout the globe has been low. The World Bank estimates that around 1.7 billion adults worldwide(or 31% of adults) do not have a basic transaction account. In the case of Nepal around 60% of the population is still said to be outside the coverage of formal banking channels. Low financial literacy, complex KYC requirement, unequal access to infrastructure, convenience in using informal market tools, lack of trust in financial service providers, inadequate financial awareness, etc has excluded a large portion of citizens from the ambit of Banking Industry.

Government of Nepal (GoN) having realized the importance of financial inclusion has introduced measures to increase the access of people to financial services. It has prioritized to open a physical branch of commercial banks at all local levels of the government. As of October, 2019, only 12 local levels out of 753 do not have a physical branch.  All these local levels are likely to have a branch by the end of the current fiscal year. With about 81% of Nepal's population living in rural areas, the increase in the number of banks at the local level will increase the bankable population. Banking at doorstep will create convenience for the users which was a matter of privilege some years back.  Similarly, GoN has launched an opening bank accounts campaign targeting every citizen. To ensure its effectiveness the process of opening bank accounts has been simplified. Opening the bank account earlier required a copy of citizenship but now can be done by presenting a copy of the driving license, national identity card, etc. Similarly, such accounts will receive a deposit of Rs. 100 from the bank's side.

GoN has also introduced 'Digital Nepal' campaign which highlights the role of the Digital Financial Services to promote digitization of financial transactions. It recommends to increase the limit of digital transactions, reduce the cost of digital financial transactions, issue of national biometric card, introduce Telecommunication Company (TelCo’s) into payment industry, etc As such,  Government of Nepal, together with other stakeholders can create an enabling environment to promote digital financial service. For instance, recently Bangladesh introduced 'Digital Bangladesh' campaign which largely increased the financial inclusion in the country. The country in 2018 had 47% of adults in the financial channel, which was a 10% increase from 2017. Such a number has soared up to 60.0% as per a recent study report from Nepal Rastra Bank. Such progress is because of a larger portion of the population having access to Mobile Financial Services(MFS). The growth was possible because of the Government’s financial inclusion strategy via ‘Digital Bangladesh’ that promoted Mobile Financial Services(MFS) like bKash, Rocket, iPay, etc . Such stories can also be found in countries like Kenya (mPesa), China(Alipay,Wechat),etc. Our own homegrown Mobile Financial Service providers like esewa, IME pay, sparrow pay, etc have been gaining momentum.  

A large unbanked population together with a predominantly cash-based economy has been a constant problem to the Nepalese financial system for a long period of time. A solution to both of these can be via an extension of digital financial services throughout the country. With mobile penetration rate greater than 100%, declining cost per unit of data, high-speed internet solutions, expansion of physical infrastructure, 50% of internet penetration rate, etc the environment is supportive for the establishment of a conducive ecosystem of digital financial services. This context is more suitable to popularize mobile financial services. This population base with wide access to mobile and internet can be tapped easily to open a digital wallet that would be game-changing to enhance financial inclusion in Nepal. Licensed mobile financial services providers from Nepal Rastra Bank in the form of PSP’s and PSO’s can tap virgin unbanked population across the country.

  

Digital finance is instrumental to ensure broader financial inclusion. Similarly, in contrast to the traditional brick and mortar banking, digital finance is more affordable and convenient.  The major advantage of digital finance comes from its ability to offer product offerings at an affordable price, ensuring interoperability across various service providers, etc.  It also enables the regulators to easily check/control the flow of black money, or undue financial transactions. Another advantage would be the efficiency factor. The use of innovative digital financial services can have a long-lasting positive impact on banking performance.  

Contribution

Access to digital finance is also more likely to boost the gross domestic product of the economy by providing service users with a wide range of digital finance products and services. Under banked groups like SME’s, women, and the population on the bottom of the pyramid will have access to financial services. This will boost aggregate expenditure leading to a positive contribution to GDP and will also contribute to the reduction of the poverty level. With this collection of government revenues, fees and charges will also increase. As such Government in coordination with other stakeholders should create an enabling legal and physical infrastructure to promote digital finance in the country. Making use of the technology to offer existing banking solutions and leveraging the benefit of technology to offer mobile financial services across the geographical areas will significantly enhance financial inclusion in the country. Such measures will significantly add to the government’s mission of ‘Digital Nepal’.

*Writer is an Assistant Director at Nepal Rastra Bank.

(The article was published in The Rising Nepal, a national English daily of Nepal. )