Title: Fingerprints, the Next Big Thing in Banking
Authors: Alan Gelb, Caroline Decker
Source: Global Development: Views from the Center
Date (published): 21/07/2011
Date (accessed): 22/07/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"With the expansion of cell coverage and mobile banking, millions of poor and rural people can now access financial services. But as financial institutions reach new populations, it is becoming clear that there are other issues keeping people from formal banking, such as the need for identification. Thankfully, there seems to be an easy solution. Just as mobile phones have helped overcome the issue of proximity for banking, biometrics could do the same for identification.
...
Since 9/11 there has been increased pressure on governments in the developing world to implement policies consistent with international Anti–Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) standards. Included are the Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations requiring financial institutions to identify their clients to better record financial flows. Regulations typically require customers to present some form of official identification, such as proof of employment or address. For those of us in the developed world, this doesn’t seem like a big deal. But in sub-Saharan Africa where only 50 percent of the population has birth certificates, requiring formal ID excludes millions of citizens, especially poor and rural populations—women in particular.

To get around this, financial institutions have begun turning to biometrics. When Opportunity International (OI), an NGO which provides financial services to the poor, came to Malawi they quickly realized many of their target clients couldn’t provide the required KYC documents. OI approached the Central Bank for an exemption; instead of the required passport or driver’s license and proof of employment to open an account, OI clients are identified simply by their fingerprints. And to access their accounts clients use their fingerprints and smartcards at participating ATMs or points of service (POS)."

Title: World Bank Board Approves US$ 151 Million to Extend Affordable Communications Services to Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania
Source: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank
Date published: 25/06/2009
Date accessed: 03/07/2009
Type of information: news release
Language: English
On-line access: Yes (HTML)
Abstract:
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved an International Development Association (IDA) credit of US$151 million to extend access to affordable communications services to Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. This is the third phase of the Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (RCIP) – a US$424 million regional program that will increase the availability of reliable communications services for citizens, businesses and governments in Eastern and Southern Africa. Under RCIP 3, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania will receive US$20 million, US$31 million and US$100 million respectively.