Chatain, Pierre-Laurent; Zerzan, Andrew; Noor, Wameek; Dannaoui, Najah; de Koker, Louis
Description:
There has been significant discussion on
the potential power of mobile-based technologies to provide
unbanked populations with access to financial instruments
and channels. Through the specific use of mobile money
(m-money) services, for example, customers have accessed
informational services, such as balance inquiries in their
bank accounts, and transactional services, such as sending
remittances to other people or paying for goods and services
via their mobile phones. M-money has also been used by
national governments to pay employee salaries and benefits.
A key objective of this report is to discourage use of
informal systems through the creation of a proportionate and
not overly burdensome regulatory framework. Overly
restrictive identification and verification processes in
know-your-customer (KYC) policies, for example, may push
users back to the informal financial system. The evolution
of m-money in Africa and in non-African, low-income
countries means that low-income and low-capacity countries
are grappling with ways to ensure compliance with
international Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the
Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) standards. Thus, this
report also provides some indications of how the Financial
Action Task Force (FATF) standards can be applied to
low-income clients within an m-money context. It does this
by presenting various country practices and experiences to
enable policy makers to identify the most appropriate
solutions for their countries' individual circumstances.