Regulating transformational branchless banking : mobile phones and other technology to increase access to finance

In transformational branchless banking, technology plays the key role of inexpensively transmitting transaction details between the customer, the retail agent, the financial service provider, and third parties. The devices typically used are mobile phones and networks of Point of Sale (POS) devices that capture client details from plastic cards. Sometimes providers offer both mobile phone-based and card based services to clients. Aside from data security issues, customer identification capability, and competition policy, the technology used to transmit transaction details is of relatively low regulatory significance, though establishing a technology-neutral regulatory regime has value given how quickly technologies change. If the system relies on a POS network and plastic cards, customers must visit a participating retail agent every time they want to conduct a transaction. If the system is mobile phone based, customers need to visit a retail agent only to add value or to convert stored value back into cash.