Sociedades garantia mútua

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N OV EM B ER 2010

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s e c t o r

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A new idea in banking for the poor

By teaming up with retail outlets in low-income, often hardto-reach areas, financial institutions can create value both for themselves and their new customers.
Alberto Chaia, Robert Schiff, and Esteban Silva

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Correspondent banking has become one of the most promising strategies for offering financial services in emerging markets. In this model, financial institutions work with networks of existing nonbank retail outlets—such as convenience stores, gas stations, and post offices—to deliver financial services. This approach can be especially powerful when serving the unbanked poor because of its ability to reduce banks’ cost-to-serve and reach low-income workers where they live. In Brazil, where the strategy has enjoyed its greatest successes, about 1,600 municipalities (approximately one-third of the total) are served solely by correspondent-banking outlets. Correspondent (or agent) banking benefits a range of stakeholders. The poor gain convenient access to financial services in their own communities. Financial institutions reach a vast new customer segment. Agents increase their sales volumes and have an opportunity to develop deeper relationships with customers. But implementing correspondent strategies can be tough. It may be hard to build networks of partners that can fulfill the correspondent role. The economics are still uncertain for players that don’t offer a range of services. And because the strategy is relatively new for financial-services providers, it is difficult to know exactly what will work in each particular community. Through our research and experience working with pioneering providers, we have identified four guiding principles to help organizations implement correspondent strategies successfully: (1) move quickly to capture early-entrant advantages, (2) build partner networks rigorously, (3) create diversified product