At the end of the document, the author states: “Given a choice, those currently without bank accounts, or with inconvenient dormant accounts, might open and more actively use postal accounts if the post office were close by and able to offer full banking services.”

Read the complete paper Branchless Banking Update: Should We Bank on Phones or The Post?

Source: msn news, 08/12/2011

The document includes the next steps the initiative should take together with the commitment of the stakeholders in  fostering and deepening this process.

A number of postal banks meet several of the key elements needed to effectively mobilize poor people’s savings: proximity, trust, simplicity, broad network, affordable services, and state-of-the-art communication technologies.  And very important, postal banks in developing and emerging countries have significant scale. Thanks to a network of more than half a million post offices throughout the world, trusted postal financial institutions have around half a billion deposit or savings account holders – in many cases, people who were previously excluded from formal banking services. There are 1.5 billion users of some sort of postal financial services – payments, remittances – and the potential to open a further billion accounts.

Read PostFI contribution to the CGAP’s blog.

The essential role of posts in financial inclusion remains a well-kept secret. Did you know that China Post Savings Bank on its own holds 30% of the accounts in China ? With deposits amounting to €2.700bn, the Japanese Post Bank remains the largest financial institution in the world.  Japan Post Insurance manages in addition life assurance assets worth €2,000bn.

In the last ten years, BRIC posts have contributed in a major way to the rise in financial inclusion. In Brazil, through the Correios-Bradesco strategic alliance, ten million accounts have been opened … 10 million mainly to the previously un-banked population.

Developing countries have developed innovative financial services approaches with a view to inclusion. Among the best known examples, Bangladesh with its solidarity-based microfinance system and Kenya with its mobile payment system, M-Pesa. Posts in developing countries are well placed to increase inclusion through their outreach and their trust capital with the un-banked. The challenges they face are to understand the users’ needs and the informal mechanisms in place to meet formally those needs with affordable solutions making use of the appropriate technology.

Key to their success: mastery of cash flow management and cash logistics, appropriate regulation, alliance management and gradual capacity building. There is no room one-fits-all solution. If you want to know more, please read the articles attached in Cahiers de l’ARCEP, January – March 2011. Read it in original version (French language). Or download its translation into English language.

For a broader overview of the transformation of the postal industry, also read the latest issue of “Les Cahiers de l’ARCEP” (en français, in French language).

We have just released a Migration and Development brief prepared by our colleagues Jose Anson and Nils Clotteau of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) based in Berne, Switzerland. There are an estimated 660,000 post offices in the world, larger than all bank branches combined. In this brief, Jose and Nils explore the role that postal networks can play in providing money transfers (remittances) and basic financial services to low-income people living in developing countries, in particular those in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Read Sanket’s blog here.

You may also be interested in reading Leveraging Migration for Africa.

New initiatives are seen in South America: in Ecuador and Uruguay the Posts have entered into new partnership agreements with banks to mobilize small savings and collect or distribute payments, while Brazil’s ECT Correios has launched the selection process for the strategic partner of Banco Postal.

In Africa the developments in postal financial inclusion are on the fast lane: in Botswana the Post and Savings Bank will merge in summer, in Kenya the Postbank will be incorporated, and the Post looks into new strategies to revamp, in Zambia the Post will help in providing banking to the rural poor, while the South African Postbank prepares for stepping into the business of lending.

Application of innovative ICT technologies supports Pos Indonesia in its money transfer services and in Israel to provide cash inside and outside the post offices.

A hot issue is also expansion of financial services and modernization through private sector participation: in Viet nam through the creation of the Lien Viet Post Bank with the Post being a shareholder, in Kenya through a 44% share of Post in Postbank,in Serbia Posta aims at an increased share in its Postal Savings Bank and in Kazakhstan decisions have been made for a “people’s IPO” of KazPost.

This and other news from  emerging and transition markets  around the world is presented in the 5^th issue of “Post Financial Times”, based on recent news clippings and interviews. Download it here!

Next week kicks off with a conference on development of Postal Financial Services  in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou. Organized by PAPU, the conference brings together operators, investors, regulators and policy makers from more than 60 countries and international institutions. It is a convincing sign that worldwide interest in Postal Financial Inclusion is rapidly increasing.

This is consistent with the news observed in January 2011. New initiatives progress in Algeria [set up of Postbank], Tanzania [Mobile Money partnership], South Africa [Postbank to be licensed and entering competiton] and Albania [all rural post offices broadband connected for on-line payments], India [debit card partnerships] .

Success in competition is demonstrated by Postal banks in Poland [lead positions for micro enterprises and seniors], Czech republic [2^nd most client friendly bank], Bulgaria [best CEO and HR Manager] and Bosnia [attractive to foreign investment].

Perhaps no one really likes to do it: paying taxes. But if needed, the post office appears as the most preferred place in e.g. Indonesia, Russia and Brazil- proximity, long opening hours, trust through simplicity and reliability are key factors in the success.

The issue #  4 of “Post Financial Times” presents more details on the above; much of the news is based on interviews and news clippings from local sources in more than 10 different languages. With more international events on the agenda for 2011 , the news from the “field” signals a rich basis for exchange of experiences and information as an input for international cooperation.

This article also highlights the critical role postal networks can play in distributing microinsurance for poor families, which seems a very promising segment of postal financial inclusion, particularly well-suited to the needs of low-income people. It describes the challenges confronted by India Post in managing multiple partners and how the Post can effectively cooperate and compete with private sector companies.