Agent Network Accelerator Survey Pakistan Country Report

Islamabad | May 12, 2015

Karandaaz Pakistan and The Helix Institute of Digital Finance jointly launched the Agent Network Accelerator – Pakistan Country Report. Based on over 2,000 mobile money agent interviews carried out in 2014, the survey report highlights findings on the mobile money agent landscape in Pakistan covering agent profitability, transaction volumes, liquidity management and other important strategic considerations.

The report highlights that Pakistan has a fiercely competitive digital financial services (DFS) market. Compared to East Africa and Bangladesh, the market is fractured with no single dominant player but at least 4 players that have considerable market presence. Additionally, new players have already penetrated the rural market in Pakistan—where often it can take DFS providers time to enter—which can most likely be attributed to the OTC value proposition offered by all providers.

Median transaction levels are low at 8 transactions a day, compared to 15 in Bangladesh, 46 in Kenya, 31 in Tanzania, and 30 in Uganda. However, a non-exclusive agent, on average, serves 3 providers at the same time which increases the level of transactions that an agent conducts. Nevertheless, an agent is profitable (median of US$58 per month) which can be attributed to their high revenues (median of US$59 per month) and extremely low operating cost of US$3 (median per month).

The report highlights the high levels of satisfaction among agents and the convenient and innovative liquidity management practices, as many agents have their cash and e-money delivered to them at their outlets. However, the limited product offering at the agent level indicates that the scope for product innovation is tremendous. The Pakistan report is part of The Helix Institute’s Agent Network Accelerator (ANA) research project. ANA, a collaboration between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and MicroSave, is the largest research project in the world on mobile money agent networks, designed to determine their success and scale.

View this report online: Agent Network Accelerator – Pakistan Country Report

About The Helix Institute of Digital Finance

The Helix Institute of Digital Finance (www.helix-institute.com) launched in November 2013 by MicroSave the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), provides cutting-edge data from global research projects, and world-class, operational training courses for digital finance (mobile money and agent banking) practitioners from across the developing world. Pakistan, is among eight African and Asian countries participating in the world-class ANA research project, selected for their contribution to the development of digital financial services globally. The African countries surveyed in the four-year project include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria. In Asia, Bangladesh and Indonesia has been surveyed, and results from India are being analyzed for release later this year.

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