The Challenge

Over the last five years, access to formal banking has significantly increased around the world due to national financial strategies as well as advances in digital financial services. At the same time, a portion of the global population remains excluded from these services, particularly those living in rural, isolated areas where banking infrastructure is limited or non-existent. Agent-based banking may be used to overcome this challenge, as existing retail outlets in communities serve as branches, while business owners provide services on behalf of the bank. Indeed, recent IPA evidence from rural Ghana found that agent-based banking drove local economic growth and increased the use of digital payments by businesses.

The Philippines offers a unique test for the potential of agent banking due to its scattered-island geography that makes it difficult for banks to provide services and foster financial inclusion to the last mile. Indeed, 11 percent of municipalities still lacked access to the formal financial system in 2023. While agent banking initiatives exist, introducing them to virgin markets can be difficult for many reasons. From the perspective of prospective agents, only a sufficient number of clients makes it worthwhile to become an agent. Prospective clients, on the other hand, may either be unaware or not sufficiently informed about the services. This can make it difficult to recruit and retain agents, which in turn may limit service availability. Current approaches to stimulate agent banking around the world rely on informing and raising awareness on both sides of the market separately, which is costly in terms of both time and money. Are there effective ways to speak to both sides of the market simultaneously and help establish agent banking services in underserved communities?

The Evaluation

In collaboration with IPA Philippines, researchers are conducting a pilot study to better understand barriers to uptake of agent banking services for potential agents and clients. As part of this, they will measure the impact of videos providing information about agent banking, including what it is, key benefits, requirements, associated costs, and how to use it. The videos will feature either a client describing the process with a real-life example of a transaction or be a more formal instructional video. 

The prospective agents and clients have been randomly assigned to either watch the videos or serve as a comparison group. Researchers will measure the intervention's impact on consumer knowledge of agent banking, hypothetical willingness to use it, and adoption and usage of it. For prospective agents, researchers will measure effects on interest in becoming and being established as an agent.

Results

Pilot results will be available in 2026.

Sources

^1. Klapper, Leora, Dorothe Singer, Laura Starita, and Alexandra Norris. 2025. The Global Findex Database 2025: Connectivity and Financial Inclusion in the Digital Economy. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-2204-9. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO

^2. Senate Economic Planning Office - SEPO AAG 23-02. https://web.senate.gov.ph/publications/SEPO/SEPO_AAG_Financial%20Inclusion%20AAG_final.pdf

^3. Batista, Catia, and Pedro C. Vicente. "Is mobile money changing rural Africa? Evidence from a field experiment." Review of Economics and Statistics 107, no. 3 (2025): 835-844.