How Agency Banking Is Changing the Game for The Unbanked

In 2014, the World Bank reported a staggering 2 billion adults in the world are unbanked, meaning they do not have a bank account. While the number has dropped to 1.7 billion in 2021, financial inclusion is still a massive challenge for many parts of the world.

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Technology has played a significant role in the advancement of the financial industry, particularly the banking sector. Banks can now provide services to customers regardless of their location through Branchless Banking or Agency Banking.

Agency Banking is a branchless banking service that allows traditional banks to extend their services cost-efficiently through authorized agents. It comes with the benefits of improving financial inclusion, risk management, product availability and a broader customer base. Traditional banks adopt it to extend their services to the rural population.

Agency banking supports different types of transactions: top-up prepaid voucher sale, voucher-less prepaid top-up, merchant services, loan repayments, balance inquiries, cash deposits, cash withdrawals, bill payments, P2P transfer, utility bills, taxes, and government fees.

The support for various transactions, the simplicity of the platform and the bias for human interaction are some of the reasons for the rapid adoption of this form of banking.

The support for various transactions, the simplicity of the platform and the bias for human interaction are some of the reasons for the rapid adoption of this form of banking.

Support for various transactions

One significant advantage of agency banking is that it supports a wide range of transactions, including voucher-less prepaid top-up, top-up prepaid voucher sale, loan repayments, account balance queries, merchant services, cash withdrawals, cash deposits, transfers, and bill payments of various types, including fines, taxes, government fees, utility bills, and more without having to go through most of the bureaucracies of traditional banks.

Simple and Easy platform

Also, the Agency Banking platform allows agents to deposit and withdraw funds from their digital wallets following various business rules. In addition, agents can use the service to transfer funds between stored value accounts or to customers' bank accounts from their stored value account. The beauty of agency banking is that it provides financial services to underserved and unbanked populations by utilizing mobile phones, POS (point-of-sale) terminals, card readers, and other technology for real-time transaction processing.

Agent-based operations

While agency banking was born out of technological advancement to reach the unbanked, it still deploys agents and human interactions with customers, which encourages trust among the rural population in many ways. Users find comfort in interacting with someone they know, especially since most of them live in the same neighbourhood as users. That is why users trust agents more than formal branches.

Through agency banking, Xpress Agents has been able to empower many agents and the underserved population. The agents can offer various financial and digital services to the general public via our digital platform. Our system is well-structured, allowing agency banking to assist businesses in scaling from minor to more significant transactions daily while also allowing those already scaling large volumes to consolidate and expand. Xpress Agent makes financial and digital services more accessible to people while also providing a significant source of income for our agents.

Through agency banking, Xpress Agents has been able to empower many agents and the underserved population.