The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of real-time digital payments infrastructures and digital financial services in reducing person-to-person contact, as well as the need for the digital economy to continue working irrespective of the limitations to physical travel. The need to solve the interoperability and financial inclusion challenge is the same as it was before COVID-19. Closed-loop payments systems leave many underserved communities out of the formal financial system, regardless of whether countries are experiencing times of economic shock.
According to the World Bank, COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of digital financial services in reducing person-to-person contact to potentially slow the spread of the virus. As a result, mobile money providers in Africa are lowering or waiving their fees. Eighty-four governments worldwide are making government-to-person (G2P) payments part of their response to the economic and social consequences of COVID-19.
These trends highlight the growing need to increase affordable digital financial services that are inclusive across a country’s entire population. Yet, work remains to achieve the interoperability-at-scale needed to close the financial inclusion gap. According to the World Bank, inclusive payment systems need to:
● Include vulnerable populations, such as those without access to technology, the elderly, the disabled, and people living in remote areas.
● Proactively address any barriers that result from transitioning to digital payments, such as ensuring critical services are not denied due to technical issues.
While creating entirely new payment ecosystems from scratch during a crisis is not possible, fast-tracking interoperability and financial inclusion changes already in the works may help to ensure digital payments systems are inclusive to all.