19 whose fragile cybersecurity—Vietnam suffered more than 31,000 cyber-attacks in 2015 alone—has constrained the growth of digital financial services.  THREE SUGGESTIONS FOR DRIVING UPTAKE Based on our study of MoMo specifically and Vietnam generally, MetLife Foundation and MicroSave suggest three use cases which could be key to driving uptake of digital financial services—and in the process, leap- frogging the sizeable share of the population which never experienced traditional banking directly into DFS. Domestic remittances. Although, as noted, the majority of the nation’s population remains rural, Vietnam’s economic growth has also included significant rural-to- urban migration—and with it, the classic need to send money back home to families back in rural villages. Currently an estimated 65 percent of remittances move through informal channels, a huge opportunity for fintechs supported by agents who can support cash-in/ cash-out for however long it may take people to get comfortable with fully digital solutions. Consumer finance. Demand for consumer finance is high in Vietnam: Outstanding loan balances exceed US $25 billion. Disbursements and repayments both represent a market opportunity—again especially for those fintechs which, like MoMo, can build networks of trusted agents. e-Commerce. Approximately 70 percent of the urban Vietnamese customer segment has shopped online, and they are more likely than the global average (55 percent compared to 44 percent) to do so via their mobile phones. For the moment, most online shoppers prefer to pay cash-on-delivery given the preference to inspect the merchandise, but there is potential for partnerships and joint promotions with e-commerce merchants and logistics companies to shift consumer behavior to mobile payments, either when they place the order or when they receive the goods. Vietnam is exciting as a test case, to be sure. Its unique convergence of rapid economic expansion, a large unbanked population, high mobile penetration and a progressive regulatory environment make it a near- perfect fintech laboratory. The interest on the part of investors like Standard Chartered and Goldman Sachs goes to show the seriousness of the sector’s promise. For those of us in the financial inclusion community, the promise of fintech is a means to an end. What ultimately motivates us is not innovation or technology for its own sake, but rather for its potential to move millions of people who have always had to make do with informal financial services into digitally enabled alternatives that are safer, affordable, convenient—and that can better help them build the lives they want. This article was based on a brief produced by MicroSave as part of a MetLife Foundation-funded series aimed at understanding the promise of fintech in Asia. The author gratefully acknowledges MicroSave and also Nguyen Ba Diep, executive vice chairman of MoMo, for sharing his perspectives with the MicroSave team. View the original article on NextBillion