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With the World Economic Forum warning of a deepening digital divide that will ultimately exacerbate global inequality , the role of intuitive digital financial services platforms in bridging this divide is becoming more important than ever before . Indeed , next generation tools that provide essential financial services – savings accounts , global money transfers , loans , etc – to customers in an accessible way , are becoming a powerful force for change by driving financial inclusion in developing economies .
The global health crisis and national lockdowns have illustrated this point – and revealed that when informal cash out services became less accessible to communities , for instance , people were able to turn to intuitive digital financial services platforms , supported by physical distribution infrastructures , to send and receive money when they needed it most .
And having interacted with these digital channels for the first time , many users discover that they can fulfil other financial aspirations and needs simply by following the user journey and providing on-going feedback .
Today , it is these seamless and increasingly digitised user journeys , supported and driven by incremental , customer-led FinTech innovation , that are disrupting the financial services ecosystem , effectively banking the unbanked – and elevating financial literacy where it is most needed .
upliftment in many of these economies . Importantly , when fintech banking platforms are able to not only provide multiple channels – USSD , an app , WhatsApp , live chats , etc , whereby customers can transact , but also the ability to sign up without having to physically interact with a bank or branch , then the opportunity for self-empowerment and financial emancipation is further amplified .
At Mukuru ( www . mukuru . com ), we listened to customer feedback and provided this opportunity in the form of self-sign up channels . This was met with a
Andy Jury , CEO at Mukuru
Beyond FinTech : Journey to financial freedom
Simply by looking at recent trends in remittance flows , one can grasp the growing role of digitised banking services in empowering marginalised communities and people with new financial tools . For instance , despite predictions by the World Bank that global remittance flows would dramatically decline in the wake of the pandemic , evidence in countries such as South Africa , Zimbabwe , Malawi and Zambia suggest that formal remittance flows across African borders have actually increased – and in fact , are proving to be more resilient than many other financial services .
The GSMA also stated that ‘ remittances are expected to retain or even exceed their current levels of importance with Foreign Direct Investment flows into LMICs expected to decline by as much as 35 % over 2020 .’
Yet remittances are only the beginning of a digitised and customer-led journey to financial inclusion and
The security aspect of emerging digital banking platforms is also becoming more of a focus point as financial crime and cyber theft spikes worldwide .
phenomenal surge in interactions with Mukuru ’ s next generation financial services platform : in South Africa , up to 30 % of users are engaging with the platform by signing up to the service via self help channels , up from 0 % this time last year . Added to this , over 86 % of money transfers generated on the Mukuru platform are self-service initiated transactions .
The Mukuru app , which has recently been relaunched with new features and capabilities , demonstrates the way in which digitised user journeys are a powerful and equalising force within global financial services .
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