Rwanda has made impressive progress towards financial inclusion and moving to a cashless economy. 89% of adults are financially included, with most using formal non-bank services like mobile money. Mobile money usage and agents have grown exponentially, while bank account ownership and ATM transactions have stagnated. The government is implementing initiatives to achieve 90% financial inclusion by 2020, including expanding access points, promoting digital payments through RSwitch, and providing government services digitally via the Irembo platform. Interoperability across banks, mobile money operators, SACCOs and MFIs is key to building an inclusive cashless payment system as envisioned in the national payment strategy.

1. Towards a Cashless Economy
A case for Rwanda
Towards a Cashless Economy
Jean Claude Gaga - CEO @

2. Rwanda at a glance
Rwanda
2nd Country
in ICT
Promotion
Globally 2nd Easiest
Place to do
Business
2nd most
competitive
economy in
Africa
3rd in Africa in
hosting
International
Association
events
9th safety and
security
globally (1st in
Africa)
5th Best Place
to be a
Woman
Globally (1st in
Africa)
9th Global
Most
Transparent
Government
(1st in Africa)
WB Report 2018
International Congress and
Convention Association 2017
Global Information
Technology report 2016
Travel & Tourism
Competitiveness Report
2016-WEF
Global Gender
Gap Report
2016
Global
Competitiveness
report 2016-17
Africa Competitiveness
report 2017
Towards a Cashless Economy

3. Towards a Cashless Economy
Expand the FS ecosystem by
delivering interoperable solutions using
best capabilities and most reliable technology
Why the fight against Cash?
• It has no memory…
• it’s bad for countries
• It has no conscience…
• it’s bad for people
• It has no API…
• it’s bad for business
Source: David Birch. The War on Cash

4. FinScope in Rwanda
Towards a Cashless Economy
Commercial Initiatives:
1. Increased branch networks
2. Mobile vans
3. Internet banking
4. Agent banking
5. Mobile banking (m-banking)
6. Mobile money
7. Loan protection insurance
8. Private pension (informal
groupings)
9. Children’s savings
Dev’t policy is guided by Vision 2020:
“Transform Rwanda into a middle income country, economic trade
& communications hub by 2020”
By-laws & Policies :
1. Payments system bills (e-payments)
2. Automated trx by 2018
3. Insurance, MFI & pension laws
4. Loan guarantees from gov’t to
increase access to credit for small
businesses
5. Financial education strategy
6. Credit Reference Bureau
FSDP
(Financial Sector Dev’t Programme) was
launched in 2006
FinScope (2008,2012,2016) is a
research tool to guide policy
makers & regulators provide FS
providers with crucial strategic
info that drive financial
behaviour & those that prevent
individuals from using the
services.
FSDP = “develop a stable and
sound financial sector that is
sufficiently deep and broad,
capable of efficiently
mobilizing and allocating
resources to address the
development needs of the
economy and reduce poverty”
GvtInitiativestohelpachieveFinancialInclusion
Targets(2017–80%,2020–90%)

5. Understanding People’s lives – FinScope 2016
Towards a Cashless Economy
Total adult (16+)
population
6million
• 84% reside in rural areas
• 63% are 40 years of age & younger
• 75% have primary education or less
• 57% Female
84%
16%
Rural Urban
43%
57%
Male Female
16 – 17 Yrs
6%
18 – 30 Yrs
34%
31 – 40 Yrs
23%
41 – 50 Yrs
16%
51 – 60 Yrs
11%
>60 Yrs
10%

6. Understanding People’s lives – FinScope 2016
Towards a Cashless Economy
21%
54%
21%
1%
3%
No formal education
Primary education
Secondary education
Vocational education
Tertiary
Levels of Education Distribution
51%
37%
10%
9%
4%
3%
3%
Money from farming
Piece-work
Self-employed (have own business)
Salary/wages from a farmer
Salary/wages from an individual
Salary from government institution
Salary from a private
business/company
Source of Income Distribution
Main perceived barriers to banking in Rwanda relate to low or insufficient income or insufficient, irregular
employment.
Key barriers to the uptake of mobile money and insurance relate to product unawareness and/or product
knowledge.

7. Determinants of Financial Inclusion
Towards a Cashless Economy
Income
• FinScope surveys show that upper-middle income countries show a higher proportion of banked adults compared to its low-income counterparts.
• Those with regular sources of income, i.e. salary/wages are also more likely to be financially included. Rwanda is classified as a low-middle income
country.
Location
• Higher density of (formal) FS providers in urban areas & better infrastructure also result in shorter travelling time to e.g. the nearest bank branch.
• The most significant difference between rural and urban levels of financial inclusion is the uptake of bank products/services.
Gender
• There are slightly higher levels of financial inclusion among males compared to females due to a number of reasons (e.g. economic, social, legal, and
cultural).
Age
• The 2016 study showed that Rwanda has a relatively young population.
Education
Level
• The levels of financial inclusion are lower among people with low levels of education (primary education or less).

8. Towards a Cashless Economy
89% adults in Rwanda are financially included
Banked
26%
Other
formal
(non-bank)
65%
Informally
served
72%
Excluded
11%
Formally
served 68%
Have/use formal financial
products/services including
banked and other formal
(non-bank) financial services.
Usage is driven by debit cards, loan
from the bank and high uptake of
mobile banking.
Have/use other formal (non-
bank) financial
products/services (MoMo,
Sacco). Regulated
Use informal mechanisms ;
money lenders, tontine.
Unregulated
Do not use any financial
products or services
(neither formal nor
informal) to manage their
financial lives.

9. Towards a Cashless Economy
Impressive financial inclusion growth has been driven by “other formal” financial
services. Other formal e.g MoMo, SACCO or Insurance product
Financial Inclusion Strand

10. Towards a Cashless Economy
23
30
9
23
10
15
58
32
2012 USAGE
2016 USAGE
Used past month Used last 6 months but not past month
Did not use in 6 months before FnScope Not formally served
50 44 62016
Quality of Financial Inclusion Measure
Thinly served Moderately served Adequately served
Usage however continues to be a concern

11. Payment Systems Statistics
Towards a Cashless Economy
84
167
292
333
354
380
400
99
227
666
946
1,152
1,718
1,885
0
0
0
491
1,009
1,422
1,026
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Instruments of Payments
No of ATMs POS for merchants POS for Agents
• Payment Acceptance Density is
80 times lower than typical
Cash-lite countries
• 5 Year (2017 – 2022) Payment
Strategy to promote e-
payments
• Merchant POS concentrated in
urban areas due to data
connectivity
• Economy remains heavily Cash
based

12. Mobile driving DFS
Towards a Cashless Economy
99
227
666
946
1,152
1,718
1,885
0
0
0
491
1,009
1,422
1,026
290
1,387
3,085
8,745
25,482
40,467
59,952
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Bank Agents Vs MNO Agents
POS for merchants POS for Agents MNO Agents
• Exponential YoY
growth of Mobile
Wallets since launch
in 2010
• Mobile penetration
about 80%
• Need for
interoperable
ecosystem

13. Mobile driving Cashless economy
Towards a Cashless Economy
41,377
115,200
389,269
487,498
638,869
657,904
746,458
231,000
639,673
1,440,541
2,538,651
6,480,449
7,663,199
9,735,694
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Bank A/Cs Vs Mobile Wallets
No of debit cards Mobile Subscribers
• 30% of Bank customers are carded
• Major schemes: SmartCash, Visa & Mastercard
• 3 MNOs: MTN, TIGO & AIRTEL
393,088
1,976,376
5,753,163
7,774,053
7,488,707
7,505,815
8,183,116
829,379
3,420,885
22,191,674
57,147,777
104,773,115
168,612,455
205,687,966
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Number of Transactions
ATM transactions MNO Wallets
• ATM trx have stagnated since advent of MoMo
• MNOs eating banks’ pie

14. Payment Systems Statistics
Towards a Cashless Economy
99
227
666
946
1,152
1,718
1,885
0
0
0
491
1,009
1,422
1,026
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
POS for merchants POS for Agents
84
167
292
333 354
380 400
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
No of ATMs
231,000 639,673
1,440,541
2,538,651
6,480,449
7,663,199
9,735,694
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Mobile Subscribers
290 1,387 3,085
8,745
25,482
40,467
59,952
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
MNO Agents
Payment System Vision
(2017-2022):
To build a cashless Rwanda
through a world-class payment
system that is secure, reliable,
efficient, scalable, innovative,
and promotes financial
inclusion.

15. Limitations impacting RNPS
Towards a Cashless Economy
Inadequate Regulatory
Framework
Limited
Interoperability
Gaps in Network
Infrastructure
Low consumer
access to
transaction and
payment services Large Informal economy Low financial literacy

16. Towards a Cashless Economy
Role of RSwitch in promoting DFS
Banks
MNOs
MFIs /
Cooperatives
Mobile wallet
Bank acc
Merchant POS
Cash agents
eCommerce
Issuers Payment
channels
Acquiring
channels
Acquirers

17. Interoperability : a much BIGGER ecosystem
Banks
Mobile
Money
Operators
SACCOs
and MFIs
Online
Mobile
Card
ATMs
POS
Bank account
Mobile wallet
Cash agents
eCommerce
Bill Payments
and collections
Intl. Remittances
Bulk Payments
Towards a Cashless Economy

18. Towards a Cashless Economy
Expand the FS ecosystem by
delivering interoperable solutions using
best capabilities and most reliable technology
E-Government Services - RwandaOnline
RwandaOnline is a private company with a 25 Yr PPP agreement,
to provide a single platform for all gov’t services through internet and mobile devices.
RwandaOnline recovers its investment only when Citizens start accessing
services through its platform.
RwandaOnline will not charge the citizen for the provision of the service
but will be paid a fee by GOR for developing and operating the platform.
Irembo is the brand name for the one-stop platform for e-Government
services built by RwandaOnline.
Its role as a platform is the provision of Government services with ease,
efficiency and reliability.
Portal access
USSD Access
Agents

19. Towards a Cashless Economy
E-Government Services - RwandaOnline
Create A/C with NID & Mobile
Apply & Pay Online
using Mobile Wallet or VISA &
Mastercard
SMS & Email notification
after submission. Also, citizen
receives a
notification in case of
status change with the
application
IDEALLY The citizen
receives documents online.
OTHERWISE The citizen
receives a notification to
pick up document
1.
2.
3.
4.
How it works
June 2015
Payment
Gateway
July 2015
Live with 5
services
70
services
today
End 2017
to have
122
services
April 2014
PPP
agreement

20. Towards a Cashless Economy
E-Government Services - RwandaOnline
Citizen visits
agency
office to
collect
application
form &
requirement
1
Citizen
visits
bank to
make
payment
2
Citizen
returns
home to
collect
supporting
documents
3
Citizen
brings
completed
application,
supporting
documents,
proof of
payment to
agency
office
4
Citizen
returns
home
awaits
processin
g
5
Citizen
collects
govern
ment
docume
nt from
agency
office
6
Citizen
return
s
home
7
Before RwandaOnline
Citizen visits Irembo on
mobile
device/computer, fills
out online application,
uploads supporting
documents, pays by
credit card or mobile
money
1
Citizen collects
government document
from agency office2 Citizen returns home
3
After RwandaOnline

21. Towards a Cashless Economy
Thank You