AGENT BANKING AND ITS EFFECT ON FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN NEPAL
Date
2022-06
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Abstract
Agent banking can be more accessible and cost-effective than physical brick and mortar bank branches as it reaches poor-earning and impoverished individuals to save, borrow, and gain a financial return. It is important to the general population since it increases the safety of their cash and is more beneficial than keeping money at home and travelling with it. Access to digital technologies, particularly the internet, mobile devices, and biometric authentication, allows the unbanked to take advantage of a variety of financial services likeonline banking, mobile banking, and digital credit (Haider, 2018).
Description
Financial inclusion is an initiative that aims to provide financial access to a large portion of the unbanked population at a low cost to support economic growth and reduce poverty and social inequality. It will also develop the ability to manage and save money, as well as the skills and knowledge to make sound financial decisions. Bank’s interaction with their customers is shifting from operations-centric to customer-centric. Furthermore, the delivery of banking services has been shifted from physical brick-and-mortar branches
toward branchless channels. Hence, agent banking has emerged as a popular modern mechanism for providing branchless financial services.
Keywords
AGENT BANKING, FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN NEPAL