IFC study examines reasons mobile money customers are often inactive

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, on Thursday published a research study looking at why a large portion of registered users of digital financial services never or only rarely use the service.
The corporation said the phenomenon is observed in many emerging markets, posing a key challenge to the expansion of financial inclusion.
The study, The Mobile Banking Customer That Isn’t: Drivers of Digital Financial Services Inactivity in Côte d’Ivoire, is based on research in the largest digital financial services market in West Africa, and finds that almost half of all registered users of mobile money accounts in Cote d’Ivoire do not regularly use their accounts. ‘The reasons for this are several, including customers finding the service irrelevant or too costly,’ the IFC said.
David Crush, IFC Program Manager for the Partnership for Financial Inclusion, said, “Digital financial services have expanded rapidly in recent years, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, extending financial services to many rural and low-income communities that were previously excluded. The challenge now is to make sure products and services are improved to meet the specific needs of new customers.”
The research report was produced by the Partnership for Financial inclusion, a joint initiative of IFC and The MasterCard Foundation to expand microfinance and advance digital financial services in Sub-Saharan Africa in order to help achieve global Universal Financial Access by 2020.
Ann Miles, Director of Programs, Financial Inclusion & Youth Livelihoods at The MasterCard Foundation, said, “The research from Côte d’Ivoire is a wake-up call to all of us working to advance financial inclusion. More than ever, digital financial service providers need to understand early and often what it is that low-income clients need and expect in a mobile money account, and then offer that product or service affordably and
conveniently.”
The report makes a number of recommendations based on the research findings, including the need to keep prices of digital financial services low, offer a broad range of products and services that cater to customers with irregular incomes, and to ensure good customer education.