[17]
Chart 4. M-PESA system users.
Effective activities led to increase in company’s income. According to
results of 2016, income of M-PESA was 41.4 billion Kenyan shilling (~$398
million
8
) (0.5% of GDP for the same period).
M-PESA broadened the spectrum of its services as it gained users’
sympathy. The system offers not only money transfers, but also micro-credit and
savings services. The product, named M-Shwari succeeded in broadening its user
base as a small amount lending tool. According to the data of 2015, although the
product has 5.8 million active customers, only 2% of the lending portfolio
includes non-performing loans (NPLs)
9
. Average amount of issued loans was
$12
10
(2013). Minimum amount to be obtained on this product is 50 ($0.48),
while maximum amount is 1 million (~$9,623)
11
Kenyan shilling. What makes
the product more advantageous over bank loans:
no application, questionnaire, or similar formatted documents required;
no commissioning fees for transactions;
no limits on cash withdrawals;
8
On the basis of the official exchange rate as at 01 August 2017 (1 $ = 103.9194 KHSH)
9
https://www.safaricom.co.ke/images/Downloads/Resources_Downloads/annual_report_2015.pdf
10
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21574520-safaricom-widens-its-banking-services-
payments-savings-and-loans-it
11
On the basis of the official exchange rate as at 01 August 2017 (1 $ = 103.9194 KHSH)
19,671
1,041,522
4,143,043
10,232,835
13,798,695
15,000,000
17,000,000
19,300,000
22,000,000
24,800,000
-
5,000,000 10,000,000 15,000,000 20,000,000 25,000,000 30,000,000
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Number of users
[18]
no minimum operational balance norm applied;
no duties in place for transfer of funds to M-PESA account from bank
account
12
or vice versa.
The US Massachussetts Technology Institute and the Georgetown
University estimated that M-PESA saved 194,000 families (2% of total
households) from sharp poverty rate
13
in Kenya since 2008.
M-PESA is being introduced in Tansania, Afganistan and India.
Measuring financial inclusion
Financial inclusion faces a number of challenges in a globalizing world.
According to the World Bank, the number of unbanked adults in a global scale
currently is 2 billion
14
. Moreover, financial services on 59% of unbanked low
income population of the world over 18 years old fail to meet their needs and
ensure easy access to finance. The challenges also include: (i) location of financial
service providers far from the areas the segment in question is dwelling; (ii) they
do not have necessary documents; (iii) no confidence in financial service
providers. In addition to the above, according to World Bank analyses, over 200
million micro, small and medium sized entreprises (MSME) have no access to
critical fianncial resources to develop their businesses.
International organizations, and developed countries take considerable
actions to eliminate the specified problems. For instance, the goal of the ‘Universal
Financial Access (UFA) by 2020’ project initiated by the World Bank is that adults
over 18 years old over the world have access to transaction accounts and own
electronic facilities to store money, send and receive payments by 2020.
Every country economy has features inherent to its drivers, labor market,
geographical location and other parameters. Naturally, financial inclusion also
varies across economies. In this context, international organizations announce
initiatives to elaborate framework to measure financial inclusion.
12
“Safaricom” cooperates only with the Commercial Bank of Africa.
13
https://www.safaricom.co.ke/mpesa_timeline/timeline.html
14
http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/financialinclusion/overview
[19]
G20 parameters. For instance, the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion
initiated in the summit of G20 held in Seoul, the capital of South Korea in 2010
15
.
Eventually, G20 Basic Set – the key indicators to measure financial inclusion was
set in the Las Cabos summit (Mexico) in 2012:
№
Category
Indicators
1.
Formally banked adults
16
% of adults with an account at a formal financial
institution
Number of depositors per 1,000 adults or
number of deposit accounts per 1,000 adults
2.
Adults with credit at
regulated institutions
% of adults with at least 1 (one) loan
outstanding
from
a
regulated
financial
institution
Number of borrowers per 1,000 adults or
number of outstanding loans per 1,000 adults
3.
Formally banked
enterprises
% of SMEs with an account at a formal
financial institution
Number of SMEs with deposit accounts/number
of deposit accounts or number of SME
depositors/number of depositors
4.
Enterprises with
outstanding loan or line of
credit at regulated
institutions
% of SMEs with outstanding loan or line of
credit
Number
of
SMEs
with
outstanding
loans/number of outstanding loans or number of
outstanding
loans
to
SMEs/number
of
outstanding loans
5.
Points of service
Number of branches per 100,000 adults
Table 2. Basic set of financial inclusion indicators (G20 Basic Set).
The following year the basic set of indicators in question was extended to
total 24 indicators to improve, deepen and enlarge the scope of financial inclusion
landscape at the Russian G20 Presidency. The extended set of indicators allows to
15
http://www.gpfi.org/about-gpfi
16
According to the World Bank methodology persons over 15 years old.