Digital Financial Services / Mobile Money Solutions for Cash-Based Transfers in Jordan

Digital Financial Services / Mobile Money Solutions for Cash-Based Transfers in Jordan

Context: Jordan Central role in the refugee crisis Population of 9.5M, 3M of which are non- Jordanians Of non-jordanians, registered refugees total approx. 730,000, with an estimated 1.5M total Syrian refugees (including unregistered) Well-coordinated response efforts Emphasis on both relief and resilience in the Jordan Response Plan 2016 2018 Trend towards unconditional CTPs Strong foundation for DFS / mobile money to be used for cash assistance Supportive regulatory environment PSPs poised to ramp-up operations Reliable telecommunications infrastructure 2

Why the focus on digital financial services / mobile money? A growing body of evidence demonstrates that DFS / mobile money helps to improve welfare and promote resilience Helps to increase savings and reduce poverty Increases flow of remittances Provides an accessible account to store / save funds Saves time and costs in accessing cash transfers Kenya: Access to mobile money lifted 2% of households out of poverty, with greater impact on female-headed households Rwanda: In the aftermath of an earthquake, mobile transfers allowed households to receive remittances from more people, from longer distances to help recover Afghanistan: Mobile wallets provided a more accessible account to save than banks; coupled with a default contribution savings product, 40% of individuals were more likely to save Niger: Cash transfer recipients who received funds through mobile money traveled shorter distances and waited for less time than those who received cash manually 1. Ja ck, W. & Suri, T. (2012), Ri sk s haring and transaction costs: Evi dence from Kenya s mobile money revolution, Working Pa per. 2. Bl umenstock, J.E., N. Eagle, and M. Fa fchamps, Risk Sharing and Mobile Phones: Evidence in the Aftermath of Natural Disasters, Working Paper, 2014. 3. Bl umenstock, J., Callen, M. & Ghani, T. (2015), Mobile-izing Savings: Experimental Evidence on the Impact of Automatic Contributions in Afghanistan. 4. Jack, W. & Suri, T. (2016), The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money, Science 354 (6317), 1288-1292. 5. Aker, Jenny C., Rachid Boumnijel, Amanda McClelland and Niall Tierney. 2014. Payment Mechanisms and Anti-Poverty Programs: Evidence from a Mobile Money Cash Transfer Experiment in Niger. Center for Global Development Working Paper 268.

Summary of Assessment Findings Cash transfer programs CTP disbursement systems of government and humanitarian agencies are too narrowly designed; they do not provide an account in the individual s name to store funds, spend, and transact Agencies have expressed desire for a system that both improves efficiency of disbursement and facilitates financial inclusion and asset building of beneficiaries Jordanian mobile money industry Has all the necessary ingredients to scale, but a strong business case is needed for mobile money providers to increase investments in order to accelerate wallet uptake and usage Initiatives to promote the use of mobile money are underway but lack coordination, resulting in smallscale, siloed efforts CTPs present a strong entry point and a potentially viable business case Financial services needs of refugees and Jordanians Refugees and Jordanians experience pain points related to the use of cash (security, transaction costs), inadequacy of informal financial services, and challenges with existing CTP disbursement systems Mobile money provides a pathway to financial inclusion that can help to address these pain points 4

Mobile Money for Resilience (MM4R) Initiative Objective Improve the quality of life of refugees and Jordanians by expanding access to finance, developing the DFS ecosystem, and improving the effectiveness of CTPs Implementation Tools Market Actors Customers / Beneficiaries Grant funding Government Agencies Refugees Debt, equity, credit guarantees Convening power Humanitarian Agencies, NGOs Jordanians Expertise and research capabilities Private Sector (PSPs, Banks, MFIs) Merchants / MSMEs

MM4R Workstreams Public-private Cooperation Enabling Environment and Advocacy Financial Capability Knowledge Capture and Dissemination Incubation and Acceleration Design pilots / scale-up programs Develop and facilitate partnerships Manage pilots / programs Products and Services Development Work with agencies, private sector to develop and promote products for various customer segments and use cases (e.g. savings, insurance, remittances, merchant payments) Payment Tech Test payment tech innovations (e.g. blockchain, regtech, credit innovations) Regulations and Advocacy Strengthen regulatory environment for DFS Advocacy to align CTP requirements with principles of cash-based aid DFS Awareness and Financial Capability Promote awareness of DFS / MM among consumers, government / humanitarian agencies, and private sector Enhance financial capability of refugees and low-income Jordanians Research and Knowledge Management Oversee quantitative and qualitative surveys, impact assessments Develop white papers and blogs, and facilitate industry workshops Establish a DFS Academy focused on promoting best practices in Jordan and globally Partnerships and Outreach Institutional Development Lead outreach to and management of partnerships with donors and government / humanitarian agencies Enhance CBJ capacity (people, systems, processes) Strengthen capacity of private sectors and agencies using DFS 6

Thank you! 7