Page 321 - The Digital Financial Services (DFS) Ecosystem

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Ecosystem

the payment provider, sending eMoney to beneficiaries. Segovia provides technology, including data analytics,
to ensure that beneficiaries are paid in an efficient manner.

Figure 2 – Systems integrators

5 Remaining challenges

New technology has improved bulk payments efficiency. However, various technical, logistical, and political
challenges remain. Many of these problems cannot be solved in isolation, but require an ecosystem-wide
solution.

Technical issues:

Cash transfer program administrators often underestimate the technological barriers to switching from cash to
e-payments, according to a study by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). These barriers include:

i) Cleaning enrolment data;

ii) gathering information for know your customer (KYC), and other regulatory standards, as well as;
iii) reconciling payment records among implementing partners. 13
The basic elements of technology, including network coverage and electricity, remain unreliable in many parts
of the world. This can cause serious problems for payment systems other than cash. If payments are consistently
delayed or made impossible due to insufficient infrastructure, many beneficiaries will chose cash payments
over a more technologically advanced solution. Even in Kenya, one of the most popular eMoney markets in
the world, the World Food Program was forced to abandon eMoney in favour of a card-based program due
to technological issues. 14

Collecting more data can also create data security challenges. Information on refugees and cash transfer
recipients can be dangerous if not secured properly. Some companies, including First Mile Geo, have created
tools that automatically delete addressing information as soon as it is uploaded into the cloud. Overall,
15
however, organizations should minimize the amount of data that they collect, and be sure not to collect more
data than they can secure.

13 CGAP 2014.
14 Zimmerman, Jamie and Kristy Bohling. Cash for assets: world food programme’s exploration of the in-kind to e-payments shift for
food assistance in Kenya. CGAP. September, 2013.
15 First mile geo website: https:// www. firstmilegeo. com/

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