Page 213 - ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services – Technology, innovation and competition

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Technology, Innovation and Competition

but not bank ones. And bank agents, but not DFS agents, can facilitate loans/collect loan documentation, but
not actually appraise the loan.
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Kenya

MNO Airtel in 2014 complained about agent exclusivity arrangements enforced by competitor Safaricom
for their M-PESA agent network. Safaricom countered that it had invested in building an agent network and
should not be required to share agents with competitors and lose its return on investment. A ruling by the
CAK ordered Safaricom to open up its M-PESA agent network to rival DFS firms. A recent report, however,
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indicated that there are aspects of exclusivity being enforced through marketing requirements. Airtel lodged
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a complaint with the CAK thereto. 214
There is also inconsistency in the agent guidelines: banks using agents are subject to the Guideline on Agent
Banking issued in 2010 and revised in 2013, but these rules are stricter than the rules imposed on non-bank
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SPs
216
Malawi

In Malawi, the Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC) has outlawed agent exclusivity per se. However,
it allows MNOs to have exclusivity for their airtime-selling agents, but not for their DFS agents even though
these may be the same person. It does, however, not appear to tightly enforce the DFS agent exclusivity rule,
allowing some DFS SPs to have exclusive agents.
Mexico

Mexico has an agent regulation for banks using retail agents and a separate regulation setting different rules
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for banks using agents managed by MNOs. 218
Uganda

In Uganda, the Bank of Uganda stipulated in its 2013 Mobile Money Guidelines that agent agreements
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should not provide for agent exclusivity. A recent report from CGAP, however, indicated that some MNOs were
switching off agent accounts if they served another provider’s customers.
220

211 ADB (2016) ibid; Bangladesh Bank (2016) ibid
212 The ban on agent exclusivity was further solidified in the National Payment Systems Regulations of 2014, which prohibited
exclusivity in agent contracts of payment service providers such as mobile money providers. See CBK (2014) National Payment
Systems Regulations of 2014, available at https:// goo. gl/ f9cnLc
213 CGAP reported that interviews with agents indicates that one MNO requires that a minimum of 75% of signage must be for their
brand. See Mazer et al (2016) ibid
214 Business Daily (2015) Competition Authority Of Kenya Asks Airtel For Evidence Against Safaricom In Mobile Cash Agents Row,
available at https:// goo. gl/ F4x2Rm
215 CBK/PG/15
216 As reported by CGAP (2015) Supervision of Banks and Non-banks Operating through Agents, available at https:// goo. gl/ 47yZqM
217 For example, convenience stores and pharmacy chains
218 CGAP (2015) ibid
219 BOU (2013) Mobile Money Guidelines, available at https:// goo. gl/ fCr0Nu
220 Mazer et al (2016) ibid; UCC (2016) ibid

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