What's New and What's Next

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What's New: Webinar | IPA’s Consumer Protection Research Initiative: Can Legal Aid Improve Consumer Redress with Mobile Network Operators?

Mobile phones have revolutionized access to financial services. Sub-Saharan Africa has been one of the largest drivers of success for mobile money, as the region houses almost three-quarters of the world’s accounts. But as digital financial products continue to evolve, so do risks to consumers. Failure to provide adequate redress to consumers facing challenges can reduce the trust and use of digital financial services (DFS). To combat this, IPA worked with Professor Matthieu Chemin and the Centre for Technology Disputes-Uganda to offer free legal support to consumers experiencing an issue with a mobile network provider. Did this legal aid work help consumers resolve complaints? And what does this mean for future complaints resolution? IPA covered this and more in a webinar with Matthieu Chemin, Anthony Kamwesigye, and Silver Kayondo. Watch the recording here.
 

What's New: Workshop | IPA Presentation at a Workshop Hosted by Cerise+SPTF

IPA Uganda along with researchers Matthew Bird and Rafael Mazer, recently presented findings from multiple IPA studies with the Bank of Uganda and Uganda Communications Commission at a workshop hosted by Cerise+SPTF, aimed at highlighting topics related to consumer protection, consumer empowerment, and complaints handling in the industry.

Photo: Lina Hochhalter (IPA) presenting IPA’s Transaction Cost Index (TCI) findings on limited fee disclosure and price list display by mobile money agents as compared to consumer knowledge of fees.
 

What's New: Evidence Synthesis | Designing Credit Products to Support Women’s Economic Activity: Synthesis of Recent Literature

What happens when we improve women’s access to credit? IPA’s new evidence brief explores the impact of financial innovations that help women access and use credit including reduced collateral, refined targeting, larger loans, digital tools, and flexible repayments. The brief also provides insights into areas where we can conduct more research, such as looking into interventions that can effectively address agent and loan provider bias in the lending process and improve consumer protection practices.
 

What's New: Presentation | CERISE+SPTF Annual Meeting: Session on Digital Financial Services (DFS)

William Blackmon joined CERISE+SPTF earlier this month in Manila to discuss consumer protection risks and solutions with DFS. William joined panels on consumer protection risks for DFS consumers and the role of complaints redress in mitigating and monitoring consumer risks. The event brought together regulators, financial service providers, and civil society organizations with a shared interest in furthering financial inclusion goals while maintaining an environment that prioritizes the protection of consumers. IPA evidence provided a valuable perspective on the importance of using data to monitor risks and testing what works (and what doesn’t) to mitigate those risks.

Photo: From left to right: Amelia Greenberg (SPTF), Rochelle Tomas (BSP), William Blackmon (IPA), Seema Nareeta Shandil (Consumer Council of Fiji), and Jackie Mbabazi (AMFIU)
 

What's New: Policy Brief | Monitoring Surveys of G2P Payment Recipients in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, IPA evaluated consumer experiences when switching from government-to-person (G2P) payments in cash to digital payments. IPA evaluated recipients’ ability to obtain program information, seek redress, and withdraw funds, as well as broader impacts on recipients' financial inclusion and capacity. Our new brief provides an overview of our key findings and highlights ways to improve payment switches in the future, such as through addressing privacy concerns and/or establishing complaints channels based on user preferences.

Photo: A woman counts Bangladesh taka ©Krakenimages.com / Shutterstock
 

What's Next: IPA Introduces Our Climate & Environment Program

Climate change and environmental degradation have deep and far-reaching consequences that disproportionately affect people living in poverty. This is why IPA is starting a Climate and Environment Program. This program will focus on adaptation due to the disproportionate impacts of climate change on the poor, despite poor households’ minimal contribution to the underlying causes. Before we can start this new program, we need to grow our team! IPA is currently hiring for a Program Director, who will bring together policymakers, practitioners, and researchers to advance a strategic research and policy agenda focused on climate and environment solutions that improve the resiliency of poor and vulnerable communities. You can read more about the position and apply here.
 

What's Next: What Does CPRI Have in Store for the Next Few Months?

Keep an eye out for IPA’s social media channels and our next newsletter for new blogs, briefs, and reports. We plan to publish two new blogs highlighting results from recently completed CPRI-funded studies focusing on the use of citizen science for consumer protection and how competition can impact the mobile money market. Additionally, our Transaction Cost Index is about to publish results from our final year of fieldwork. Similar to last year, we plan to publish a report on the key findings from year two of our research and three country briefs that provide more detailed insights. In addition, we will publish a toolkit that provides practical guidance for those interested in conducting mystery shopping to measure DFS costs. This will be a useful tool for policymakers, regulators, or researchers who seek to gain insights into the demand side of DFS markets.

Things that Make Us Think

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White Paper: Back in April, Melinda French Gates developed a white paper on the need to expand access to affordable credit for women entrepreneurs in low- and middle-income countries, with a focus on Africa. The paper provides insights into the demand for credit and the positive impact of credit products. It also notes that while these products are important for women entrepreneurs to access and use, they can also present consumer protection issues. Read more here on how we can build a more inclusive credit ecosystem.

Literature Review: How do DFS impact users? A new literature review, conducted by J-PAL, evaluated 28 randomized evaluations, including some of our work from CPRI, to answer this question. They found that DFS can increase profits and financial control, and positively impact other outcomes. Overall, this review highlights the importance of tailoring interventions to diverse populations, promoting financial literacy, and prioritizing consumer protection to unlock the full potential of DFS for inclusive economic growth and overall well-being.

Blog: A new survey from CGAP does a deep dive into the risks facing DFS users in the West African Economic and Monetary Union region. CGAP conducted national phone surveys on consumers' experience and exposure to DFS risks in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Burkina Faso. Some main findings include:

• DFS is not yet available for all
• Users of DFS face significant challenges in the three countries surveyed
• Exposure to fraud is a major concern in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire
• Recourse mechanisms vary widely from one country to the other
• Agents don’t always have liquidity but they can help consumers to transact
• Surprisingly, significant gender differences in overall risk exposure were rarely observed

These findings highlight the need for more responsible DFS ecosystems. While this is just an overview of what the survey uncovered, you can find more details here.

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