CIO OPINION
FinTechs must serve their customers what they need , and they are voting with their feet and fingers – they want to use simplified channels .
access to a grassroots product . Then , when customers upgrade , which they do , they are able to move to a place where they can buy data , use WhatsApp and supply selfies , for example , meaning they can upgrade to a higher-level product . Once they can travel to a city where a field agent can find them , they get access to further product offerings because they can supply biometric and legal identification documents .
Then , if they wish to move up to take out even more products – such as a mobile wallet – the documentation and due diligence requirements go up once more . The next step up would be featurerich , self-help services in the form of websites and apps . A big mistake is that many believe you can start the journey on this rung of the ladder . In Mukuru ’ s experience , in the SADC region , the use of these and they are voting with their feet and fingers – they want to use simplified channels .
Collaboration between regulators is important – for access to identification – and FinTechs make this process far easier . The point is that one doesn ’ t have to swing the door wide open in the first instance because of the very limitations that left people excluded in the first place . Rather , with a careful , mobile-led , risk-based approach the door can be inched wider until they reach a point where they step into full financial inclusion .
If we look at a Mukuru snapshot in February 2020 , 70 % of our transactions were cash-to-cash .
In February 2022 , we moved to only 49 % of those transactions being cash-to-cash , and a digital store of value ( which started as a remittance ) is becoming a real way of life for a significant portion of the customers who were onboarded through access to a digital channel .
Financial inclusion and verified customer onboarding can , and do , work hand in hand . If you start someone on their financial journey by giving them access to a digital channel rather than forcing them to convert immediately to a digital store of value , you start moving people along a financial journey they can control . p
40 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www . intelligentcio . com