NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, July 11, 2016

The SWIFT Institute, in partnership with the Harvard Kennedy School, has released new research on the impact of mobile banking on financial inclusion.

The report, ‘A Quantum Leap Over High Hurdles to Financial Inclusion: The Mobile Banking Revolution in Kenya’, focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, through the lens of Kenya. It reveals that as a result of mobile banking Kenya’s financial inclusion rates have increased dramatically; however, the research also states that Kenya’s success may not be easily replicated in other developing countries.

Author of the study, Dr. Jay Rosengard, Director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government’s Financial Sector Program at Harvard Kennedy School, says, “With this research, we aimed to understand the real impact of technological and business model innovations on levels of financial inclusion and poverty reduction. The research analyses the impact of mobile banking because this technology holds the greatest promise in overcoming geographic, demographic and institutional constraints to financial inclusion.”