Descriptive Mapping of the Use of Digital Cash Transfer Modalities

The scale-up of Cash and Voucher Assistance is catalysing rapid change in the humanitarian sector. In particular, the use of digital payments or e-transfers in humanitarian settings has increased significantly in recent years. This rapid literature review collates evidence from academic, policy focussed and grey literature on the use of digital cash transfer modalities and provides a non-exhaustive descriptive mapping of some of the modalities used by selected donors and organisations. Cash transfers are one of the most heavily researched approaches in humanitarian aid, evaluations have established that they can be effective at achieving a wide range of aims. These evaluations have also appraised the relative utility of different modalities for delivery. In many humanitarian crises, goods are available, but affected populations have lost the means to buy them. In such cases, cash transfers can be provided, enabling beneficiaries to choose how to use the money, giving them the dignity of choice. A digital or e-transfer is defined as the transfer of money or vouchers from the implementing agency to a beneficiary. Such transfers provide access to cash, goods and/or services through mobile devices, electronic vouchers, or cards. The term E-transfer is an umbrella term for e-cash and e-vouchers. Card-based systems allow the beneficiary to access cash (or commodities) via ATMs or merchants, possibly without the need for a bank account. Mobile transfers are a form of cash transfer occurring over mobile networks. Modalities for digital cash transfers are diverse and multifaceted influenced by context and available technologies. Modalities may include: Card-Based Systems Mobile Phone-Based Systems: Mobile Vouchers Mobile Phone-Based Systems: Mobile Money Biometric Technology Block Chain Despite potential benefits, practical challenges remain for programmes that try to leverage commercially provided digital payments. In a humanitarian crisis, the priority is to get payments out to those affected as quickly as possible. Often in nascent markets where digital payments do not have a large user base or supporting agent infrastructure, the logistics of using digital payments can cause unacceptable delays. In light of these challenges, digital payments, if used at all, are often disbursed through closed-loop systems. These are payment platforms created abroad, often for short-term use. They do not connect recipients to an account that they can use for storing, sending and receiving funds after the humanitarian response has ended.Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO

Fighting Poverty, Profitably: Transforming the Economics of Payments to Build Sustainable, Inclusive Financial Systems

The Gates Foundation's Financial Services for the Poor program (FSP) believes that effective financial services are paramount in the fight against poverty. Nonetheless, today more than 2 billion people live outside the formal financial sector. Increasing their access to high quality, affordable financial services will accelerate the well-being of households, communities, and economies in the developing world. One of the most promising ways to deliver these financial services to the poor -- profitably and at scale -- is by using digital payment platforms.These are the conclusions we have reached as the result of extensive research in pursuit of one of the Foundation's primary missions: to give the world's poorest people the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty.FSP conducted this research because we believe that there is a gap in the fact base and understanding of how payment systems can extend digital services to low income consumers in developing markets. This is a complex topic, with fragmented information and a high degree of country-by-country variability. A complete view across the entire payment system has been missing, limiting how system providers, policy makers, and regulators (groups we refer to collectively as financial inclusion stakeholders) evaluate decisions and take actions. With a holistic view of the payment system, we believe that interventions can have higher impact, and stakeholders can better understand and address the ripple effects that changes to one part of the system can have. In this report, we focus on the economics of payment systems to understand how they can be transformed to serve poor people in a way that is profitable and sustainable in aggregate

Design of Prototype Payment Application System With Near Field Communication (NFC) Technology based on Android

Since the late 1990s, people have enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle. Mobile devices supported by the development of wireless networks have spread throughout the world. People can get information, order tickets, download songs and perform commercial transactions, called mobile commerce. Mobile commerce applications become the most popular application for mobile device users who want to do business and financial transactions easily and securely, anytime and anywhere they are. Today the use of physical cash is experiencing a decline in popularity in the business world, because it is being replaced by non-physical payments are often called electronic money (e-money). An important technology behind mobile payments is called Near Field Communication (NFC). As an indication that the NFC has tremendous business potential, leading companies like Nokia, Microsoft, Visa Inc., and MasterCard Worldwide and NXP Semiconductors, is actively engaged on them. Payment processing integrated with NFC technology based mobile operating system that is a trend today is Android that support NFC technology is version 2.3.3 Gingerbread. The prototype application is designed to pay for 2 on the user side of the user as consumer and the merchant side as a trader or seller by using the handset that already have NFC technology is Google Samsung Nexus S. Pay an application prototype also implements the concept of security in e-commerce transactions by using the protocol-to-Tag Tag so that the user needs for security and comfort during the financial transaction are met. &nbsp

Mobile banking and financial inclusion : the regulatory lessons

Mobile banking is growing at a remarkable speed around the world. In the process it is creating considerable uncertainty about the appropriate regulatory response to this newly emerging service. This paper sets out a framework for considering the design of regulation of mobile banking. Since it lies at the interface between financial services and telecoms, mobile banking also raises competition policy and interoperability issues that are discussed in the paper. Finally, by unbundling payments services into its component parts, mobile banking provides important lessons for the design of financial regulation more generally in developed as well as developing economies.Banks&Banking Reform,Access to Finance,Emerging Markets,Debt Markets,Technology Industry

Competitive forces shaping the payments environment: what's next?—a conference summary

Technological innovations have enabled numerous payment methods to proliferate in the market. As a result, payment providers have to address concerns about pricing, infrastructure, and regulatory standards. To discuss these and related issues, the Chicago Fed hosted its seventh payments conference on May 10–11, 2007.Payment systems

A modularized electronic payment system for agent-based e-commerce

With the explosive growth of the Internet, electronic-commerce (e-commerce) is an increasingly important segment of commercial activities on the web. The Secure Agent Fabrication, Evolution & Roaming (SAFER) architecture was proposed to further facilitate e-commerce using agent technology. In this paper, the electronic payment aspect of SAFER will be explored. The Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) protocol and E-Cash were selected as the bases for the electronic payment system implementation. The various modules of the payment system and how they interface with each other are shown. An extensible implementation done using JavaTM will also be elaborated. This application incorporates agent roaming functionality and the ability to conduct e-commerce transactions and carry out intelligent e-payment procedures

Mobile banking and financial inclusion: The regulatory lessons

Mobile banking is growing at a remarkable speed around the world. In the process it is creating considerable uncertainty about the appropriate regulatory response to this newly emerging service. This paper sets out a framework for considering the design of regulation of mobile banking. Since it lies at the interface between financial services and telecoms, mobile banking also raises competition policy and interoperability issues that are discussed in the paper. Finally, by unbundling payments services into its component parts, mobile banking provides important lessons for the design of financial regulation more generally in developed as well as developing economies. --Banking,Regulation,Microfinance,Payments System,Mobile Money

The electronification of transit fare payments: a look at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's New Payment Technologies Project

Over the past decade many of the nation's largest public transit providers have gone from fare-payment systems based on cash and coin to more modern electronic systems that implement payment cards, including agency-issued prepaid cards, credit cards, and debit cards. On September 16, 2008, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia hosted a workshop to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) as it attempts to redesign its transit-fare payment system to accept payment cards. Jerry Kane, manager of SEPTA's New Payment Technologies Project, led the workshop. This paper summarizes Kane's presentation and the ensuing discussion. In addition, this paper offers some thoughts on why the modernization of transit-fare payment systems has begun around the country; what obstacles still stand in the way of using credit, debit, and prepaid cards to pay fares; and what this movement means for consumer payments generally.Payment systems ; Credit cards ; Debit cards ; Transportation

After the hype: e-commerce payments grow up

On June 18, 2003, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Electronic Commerce Payments Council (eCPC) of the Electronic Funds Transfer Association co-hosted a workshop forum to explore areas of mutual interest related to the proliferation of e-commerce payments. This was the second event jointly sponsored by the groups. ; The first forum, “The Future of e-Commerce Payments,” which was held in June 2002, focused on the possibilities ahead, as various electronic payment channels displace paper checks as a primary payment form. The more recent forum, “After the Hype: e-Commerce Payments Grow Up,” continued the dialog, emphasizing recent economic and marketplace realities that impact ecommerce payments innovation, acceptance, and maturation. ; Participants and speakers included Federal Reserve staff and industry leaders.Electronic commerce