Electronic payments key to financial inclusion - experts

Although financial inclusion in Rwanda stands at over 70 per cent, a few people and service providers are yet to fully embrace the use of electronic money transfer platforms like credit cards, internet and mobile banking, telecom’s mobile money service, point of Sale (POS) devices, among others. This was said, yesterday, by financial experts in Kigali during the launch of a Finsope Survey seeks to ascertain how Rwandans across the country access and use financial services. John Bosco Iyacu, the Access to Finance Rwanda, technical manager, said that unlike before, there is need to put more emphasis on mobile money services such as, Tigo Cash, MTN mobile money, and Airtel money. “Feedback from the previous survey indicated that there was necessity to study mobile transactions because, lately, people have even gone an extra mile to acquire loans using their mobile accounts,” Iyacu said. Statistics from the central bank indicate that mobile money subscribers rose to over 3.4 million presently up from 231,000 subscribers in 2010. “We need to look at how the usage of mobile money in Rwanda is a driver in financial inclusion given that we need multiple ways that can work for the poor in relation to cost effectiveness and convenience,” said Dr Kingstone Mutsonziwa, the head of information and research, FinMark Trust. Augustin explains the benefits of carrying out FIN scope survey in Rwanda. (Photos by Doreen Umutesi) Emil Sjöblom, the acting head of mobile financial services at Tigo, said that since mobile money services have become both a form of savings and sending money, they need to be considered as a tool for financial inclusion. “Advanced services are being brought on board through mobile money every other day like TIGO Sugira which offers an interest of 7 per cent on individual accounts but it is important to track the developments and probably this study will help us understand how to roll out our agents in the villages,” Sjöblom said. The FinScope survey, carried out by FinMark, measures and tracks the landscape of access to financial services across all the main product categories such as transaction banking, savings and credit. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Electronic payments key to financial inclusion - experts