Technology, and in particular the spread of real-time communications networks, permits banks to delegate ‘last mile' cash management and customer servicing functions to third-party retail outlets. By making basic deposit, withdrawal, and payment functions available securely through retail...

Branchless Banking allows customers to access financial services beyond bank branches and thereby holds the promise of addressing two major hurdles to financial inclusion: lack of proximity and high costs. It builds on the sustained development of mobile telecommunications which makes it...

In the financial sector, regulators focus primarily on stability, predictability, and avoiding shocks. The recent financial crisis led many commentators to speak out on the difficulty, if not the failure, regulators had in controlling innovation, which had damaging consequences not only for the...

In parts of Africa, only one in five people have access to traditional banking services. In Latin America only one in three do. Claire Alexandre, Ignacio Mas, and Daniel Radcliffe of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation say this need not be the case. The technology exists to make banking...