Uninterrupted Cash In Cash Out (CICO): An Agent Success Model
Business correspondent (BC) agents are crucial last-mile infrastructure that support India’s vision for efficient, population-scale delivery of financial and other government services using Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). These agents primarily facilitate cash deposits, cash withdrawals (together known as cash-in cash-out or CICO), and optionally facilitate access to insurance, savings products, and various welfare schemes for rural and low-income India.
The Case for Good Disclosures – Building A Two-Way Road Towards Suitable Insurance Sale
In this note, we discuss how the difficulty of selling life insurance led to bundling insurance with savings2, how such bundling can be sub-optimal, and why such products are popular despite adverse customer experiences. We then make a case for providing relevant, complete, and comparable information that can aid suitable product decisions, sale, and persistence. We also offer a template for what such a Customer Information Sheet could look like.
Digitizing Women’s Money Management
In light of the challenges and opportunities presented by the prevalence of Digital Financial Services (DFS), the Digitizing Women’s Money Management (DWMM) project is aimed at contributing to the improvement of the landscape of financial services for women in Low-Income Households (LIHs).
Advancing Digital Financial Inclusion of Women from Low-Income Households
In an increasingly digitized world, Digital Financial Services (DFS) have emerged as a key tool for transacting, borrowing, saving, and investing. Policymakers and Financial Service Providers (FSPs) are keen to leverage DFS to advance financial inclusion, particularly for women from Low-Income Households (LIHs).
Our response to the RBI’s Draft framework for recognising Self-Regulatory Organisations (SRO) for FinTech Sector
Our response covers two themes:
Leading from a customer protection perspective, our comments emphasise the need for the prospective SRO to have duties towards the customers, at par with responsibilities towards the regulator.
Notes from Consumers International’s Global Congress 2023
Consumer protection in financial services is a core component of Dvara Research’s mission, activities and its advocacy agenda. In this regard, I had the opportunity to participate at Consumers International’s Global Congress 2023, in Nairobi, Kenya, in December 2023.
Financial Inclusion and Well-being: Assessing How Retail Digital Lending Has Mattered
There is consensus about the importance of financial inclusion. This has translated into efforts to increase the level of financial access from the financial sector firms as well as through policy initiatives. Among the financial sector initiatives, the most visible has been the growth of the FinTech platforms.
Our Response to RBI’s Draft Omnibus Framework for recognising Self-Regulatory Organisations (SROs) for Regulated Entities (REs)
In this blogpost, we present our comments primarily to the former, but significantly implicating the latter. We include both frameworks since they cover similar subject matter – the creation of an SRO.
Insuring Low-Income Households- Why disclosure matters
In this deck, we discuss some factors influencing life insurance take-up, the problem with endowment life insurance for the low-income segment, and how better disclosures could be the first step in helping households choose the right insurance product for them.
From Paisas to Prosperity: Savings as an Asset-Building Tool for Women from Low-Income Households
In the following sections of this blog, we discuss the unique and complex financial lives of these households to set the context for product and process designs, delve into what a savings product for not just women but Low-Income Households (LIHs) in general could look like, and highlight some of the insights from various kinds of financial service providers on the challenges and opportunities in operationalising such a savings product for this segment.
