2020 brought with it a 12.7 percent increase in the number of registered mobile money accounts, bringing…
Digital Money and payments
Ready, Steady, Go? – Results of the Third BIS Survey on Central Bank Digital Currency
Most central banks are exploring central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and their work continues apace…
The Digital Yuan, Where Are We Now? Latest Developments.
The Digital Yuan or DCEP is having and will have tremendous importance, not only for…
A Pan-Asian Digital Currency Would Bring Many Opportunities to China
Many authors and scholars have advocated the introduction of an Asian digital common currency covering…
The RCEP, A Boost for Trade and Central Bank Digital Currencies in Asia
One of the world’s largest free-trade deals in history, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP),was…
Project Helvetia – Settling tokenised assets in central bank money
The Swiss National Bank, The Bank for International Settlements’ Innovation Hub (BISIH) Swiss Centre, and…
Inclusive Digital Banking: Emerging Markets Case Studies
This Working Paper tells the stories of three of these banks: TymeBank in South Africa, Kotak 811…
Dirty Money: Does the Risk of Infectious Disease Lower Demand for Cash?
The coronavirus pandemic is a global crisis like no other in modern times, and there…
South Korea’s and Japan’s Central Banks Will Start Testing their CBDCs in 2021
In April 2020, after several years of work, the Chinese Government announced the starting of…
QR Code Merchant Payments: A Growth Opportunity for Mobile Money Providers
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA) compiled a report on QR code merchant payments…
Making Mobile Phones Affordable in Malawi
Mobile technology plays a huge role in financial inclusion and accessibility. This article talks about…
Garment Worker Diary Reports
The Garment Worker Diaries collect regular, credible data on the work hours, income, expenses, and…
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on CICO agents in Kenya
Microsave’s latest research on the impact of the COVID 19 on CICO agents in Kenya…
Central Banks and Payments in the Digital Era
This report from BIS, highlights the role central banks play in maintaining the safety and…
Covid-19: Boon and bane for digital payments and financial inclusion
This brief compares the approaches taken by authorities in different countries, examining the different drivers…
Faster Payments: The Biggest Advancement in UK Pyments in a Generation
Case study on the UK Faster Payments Service.
Digitizing Payments in the Time of COVID19 and Beyond
UNCDF organized this webinar to discuss how fast-tracking digital payments at a time of crisis…
CICO Agents: The Under-Valued “First Responders”
Microsave’s ongoing research uncovered a set of unique challenges that cash-in/cash-out (CICO) agents currently face…
Diagnostic study of the Zambian payments system
This diagnostic study by Cenfri explores Zambia’s payments landscape and provides insight and key learnings…
The Trillion-Dollar Question
For years, digital financial services providers have tried and failed to seize a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity:…
Agent Networks at the Last Mile
Most digital financial services users around the world live in cash-based societies, and they require…
Garment Workers Experience with Wage Digitization in Bangladesh
Microfinance Opportunities, in collaboration with the Social Performance Task Force, conducted research to understand the…
Payments Innovation: Finding Payments’ 2020 Hidden Value Today
This podcast from PYMENTS explores the trends and developments expected for 2020 and what disruptions…
The Value of Pre-Authorization Screening in the Payments Ecosystem of Today
Ekata’s e-book, The Value of Pre-Authorization Screening in the Payments Ecosystem of Today, highlights essential…
Digitizing Merchant Payments: Why and How
Digitizing merchant payments represents a major opportunity for financial services providers in developing economies because…
European Payments Predictions 2019
In this report by Clearhaus, nine industry experts share their experience and give insights into…
The Rise of Digital Money
This paper from IMF marks the launch of a new IMF series, Fintech Notes. Building…
World Payments Report 2019
The World Payments Report 2019 from Capgemini is the leading source for data, trends and…
Bangladesh: The Impact of Wage Digitalisation
This study measured the impact of wage digitization on the uptake of mobile money by…
Report of the High Level Committee on Deepening of Digital Payments
This report is based on the findings of the Reserve Bank of India committee, called…
Proceeding With Caution – A Survey on Central Bank Digital Currency
Payments are changing at an accelerating pace. Users expect faster, easier payments anywhere and at…
World Payments Report 2017 and 2018
Gapgemini and BNP Paribas produced the World Payments report for the years 2017 and 2018,…
Payment Systems Worldwide- A Snapshot 2018
Payment systems and remittances represent the foundations of financial sector stability and financial inclusion. Payment…
ISO 20022 Consultation Paper: A Global Standard to Modernise UK Payments
The major UK payments systems are moving to the new global messaging standard for payments…
The Future of Digital Payments in Europe 2017
This White Paper provides an essential appraisal of the key trends in this rapidly developing marketplace, highlighting…
Flavours of fast: A trip around the world in immediate payments
Now in its sixth edition, FIS’ annual Flavors of Fast report traces the extraordinary growth of real-time payments around the world and the new consumer…
Digital Wallet Adoption for the Oral Segment in India: Concept Development for MoWo (Mobile Wallet for Oral)
“Orality” refers to the modes of thinking, speaking and managing information in societies where technologies…
Getting Ahead of the Curve: Assessing Card-Not-Present Fraud in the Mobile Payments Environment
The U.S. retail payments industry is undergoing significant change to secure card payments by migrating…
Fast payments – Enhancing the Speed and Availability of Retail Payments
The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures has issued a report on Fast payments. So-called…
2016 World Payments Report
The 2016 World Payments Report examines developments in the global payments landscape. By partnering with…
The changing world of money
This report from KPMG explores the changing world of money and how we can prepare for…
Contactless EMV Payments: Benefits for Consumers, Merchants and Issuers
This white paper, from the Smart Card Alliance Payments Council, addresses current questions about the…
Digital banking: from revolution to evolution
Against a backdrop of heightened regulation, the burden of legacy IT and a plethora of…
State of Cash, Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, 2015
As the payments landscape evolves, cash remains a unique, resilient, and heavily used consumer payment…
The Effect of Demographics on Payment Behavior: Panel Data with Sample Selection
Today’s consumer has access to more payment instruments than consumers of just a few years…
Digitizing Wage Payments in Bangladesh’s Garment Production Sector
The journey from cash to electronic payments in Bangladesh’s garment sector is gathering pace as…
Cashless society in China
This podcast on how digital payments adoption is rapidly increasing in China and how platforms…
A Western Diet with Chinese Spices – The Specificities of Payments in China
Overall, in China the payment system is less developed and electronic payment methods are less…
The Rise of FinTech in China Redefining Financial Services
A collaborative report from EY and DBS Bank shares lessons to be learned from the…
India’s Botched War on Cash
India is in the throes of an unprecedented social experiment in enforced digital disruption, and…
The U.S. Path To Faster Payments
This report is broken into two parts. Part one describes the background and process of…
Kaushik Basu podcast on India’s demonetization
Doing away with big currency notes is a movement that is picking up all over…
Fast Payments – Enhancing the Speed and Availability of Retail Payments
The BIS Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures has issued a report on Fast payments.…
Digital Disruption – How Fintech is forcing banking to a tipping point
Investments in financial technology have growth exponentially in the past decade — rising from $1.8…
The U.S. Adoption of Computer-Chip Payment Cards: Implications for Payment Fraud
The fraudsters, phishers, hackers, and pickpockets who thrive off payment card fraud may soon have…
Mapping the Retail Payment Services Landscape: Zambia
This report on Zambia’s retail payments landscape is part of a series commissioned by FinMark…
Innovations in retail payments
Over the past decade, many innovations in retail payments have emerged. These may affect the…
Enabling a New Generation of Digital Services: A Case Study of China Telecom’s Wallet
As the Chinese population becomes increasingly connected, the power of mobile is being used to…
Digital Payments 2020: India
This paper by Boston Consulting Group and Google, explores the global digital payments revolution and…
The Challenges of Real-Time, Any-to-Any Payments
Imagine a world in which consumers have control over their money and are connected directly…
The Global Adoption of Real-Time Retail Payments Systems (RT-RPS)
The purpose of this paper is to review the global real-time retail payments systems (RT-RPS)…
The digital battle that banks must win
One in three people in developed markets now carries a smartphone, and few doubt that…
10 Challenges That Could Make or Break India’s Payments Banks
In the year since it was launched, India’s national financial inclusion drive has generated plenty…
Position Paper on Virtual Currencies- A South African Example
This document outlines the position of the South African Reserve Bank on virtual currencies as…
Glossary of Terms Related To Payment, Clearing And Settlement Systems
This glossary of terms from the European Bank gives explanation of terms relating to payment,…
Understanding the Fractional Reserve Banking System
When you put your money into a savings account or a checking account at a…
Crowdfunding Monitoring Switzerland 2016
Crowdfunding is an alternative way of raising capital that uses online platforms. The funds can…
Responsible Digital Payments Guidelines
The Better Than Cash Alliance ‘Responsible Digital Payments Guidelines’ identify eight good practices for engaging…
Designing Successful Distribution Strategies for Digital Money
This paper by Ignacio Mas documents the variety of ways in which digital financial service…
Going Cashless at the Point of Sale: Hits and Misses in Developed Countries
This paper by Ignacio Mas reviews some of the bigger failures and some of the…
Banking Through Networks of Retail Agents
Technology can enable banks and their customers to interact remotely in a trusted way through…
Business Primitives: Enabling Payment Lifecycles through Software
This paper by Ignacio Mas defines ‘business primitives’ as low-level operations from which higher-level, more…
Smart Banknotes: A Proposal for Bank Notes that Bridge the Gap Between Physical and Electronic Money
Cash imposes large costs on society, yet it is hard to envision moving to an…
Where’s the Cash? The Geography of Cash Points in Tanzania
The Financial Sector Deepening Trust of Tanzania (FSDT) has conducted two censuses of cash outlets…
On The Comparability Of Fees Related To Payment Accounts, Payment Account Switching And Access To Payment Accounts With Basic Features
Based on these findings and following an analysis of the available options, this European Commission…
Non-banks in Retail Payments
The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) has issued the report Non-banks in retail payments to…
Responsible Digital Payments Guidelines
The Better Than Cash Alliance ‘Responsible Digital Payments Guidelines‘ identify eight good practices for engaging…
Digital Payments Transformation From transactions to consumer interactions
This stage of connectivity is driving digital payments transformation – the migration of cash payments…
Why Retailers?
A study to understand the user case for financial services offered by retailers in South…
Enhancing the Growth of Plastic Cards in Kenya
Use of credit and debit cards in Kenya has grown substantially over the years with…
Cash Lite: Are We There Yet?: Rethinking the Evolution of Electronic Payments in Kenya Based Evidence in the Kenyan and South African Financial Diaries
While momentum has been growing behind digital payments in advanced economies for decades, movement in…
Is Payment Tokenization Ready for Primetime?
This white paper will share what the group learned by providing an overview of the…
Tokenization Explained: What it Is, How it Works and How You Can Benefit
Tokenization can be defined as the replacement of a high-value credential with a surrogate number…
Marketing Branchless Banking
Collected examples of branchless banking advertisements from around the world and interviewed providers about the…
The Journey Toward Cash Lite-Addressing Poverty Saving Money and Increasing Transparency by Accelerating the Shift to Electronic Payments
This study examines the three shifts to electronic payments; aggregates the findings of a range…
Pricing in Retail Payment Systems: A Public Policy Perspective on Pricing of Payment Cards
The provision of retail payment services is complex with many participants engaging in a series…
The Social and Private Cost of Retail Payment Instruments
The European Central Bank (ECB) carried out a study of the social and private costs…
Cross-Border Low Value Payments and Regional Integration: Enablers and Disablers
This paper discusses the enablers and disablers of cross-border low value payments and regional integration.…
The Coming of Age of Digital Payments as a Field
This paper has three objectives. It lays out the key differences between a banking and…
Strains of Digital Money
This paper provides a basic framework that explains how the major types of known digital…
The Island of Stone Money
The Island Of Stone Money – large stones quarried and shaped on a distant island…
Global Trends in Large Value Payments
Globalization and technological innovation are two major forces affecting the financial system and its infrastructure.…
The Importance of the Retail Payment System
This article hosted by SSRN, explores the importance of an efficient retail payment system and…
The Next Digital Finance Frontier: Filling the Accounts
It is commonly accepted that poor people find value in remote digital payments propositions. A…
How the Future Shaped the Past: The Case of the Cashless Society
The future matters to business history, because the adoption of new technology and new organizational…
The Cost of Cash in the United States
This report is part of a larger study, performed by The Fletcher School at Tufts…
Payment Systems: From the Salt Mines to the Board Room
Payment systems are changing profoundly through regulation, technology and competition from new entrants. This is…