Microtel Hotel, Libis, Quezon City June 17, 2016

m-Money Systematic Review The dissemination event for the m-Money Systematic review was held on June 17, 2016 at the Microtel Libis in Quezon City, Philippines.

The systematic review team was headed by Erwin A. Alampay, Senior Research Fellow at LirneAsia and currently Director of the Center for Local and Regional Governance (CLRG). Other members of the team included Dr. Goodiel Moshi, Ms. Ishita Ghosh, Ms. Juliana Harshanti, and Ms. Mina Peralta.

According to Dr. Alampay, of the 2759 studies they looked at, only ten studies fulfilled the rigorous standards for inclusion in the review. All ten were studies in Africa, with 6 coming from Kenya, where their model, m-Pesa, is well known.

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USAID-SIMM

Mr. Vice Catudio from USAID shared their experience with the SIMM project. He shared their experience with LGUs, and cooperatives. Among the uses he gave was in provisioning for salaries of teachers in Quezon City, payment of utility bills in Batangas, and payment of taxes in Quezon City.

Quezon City case

There were initial resistance on the part of teachers to use mobile money considering they have had ATMs to begin with already.

So far as well, there has been few transactions using G-Cash to pay local taxes, even as this amount has been increasing.

DSWD’s CCT

Dir. Deloria of DSWD said they used to have GRemit as a conduit for delivering conditional cash transfers. However they stopped this du to high transaction costs. It was clarified, however, that these costs were negotiated values and not the actual costs of m-money transactions.

mBOP Impact of Mobile Financial Services in low- low-middle income countries

Microtel Hotel, Libis, Quezon City June 17, 2016

Among the findings in the systematic review were the significantly higher volumes of remittances received among m-financial service users compared to non-users. It also found that m-money as an intervention leads to greater (although not statistically significant difference)savings.

In cases where m-money has been used for cash transfers in farm inputs, m-money has been found to be significantly responsible for a 54% increase in farm inputs consumption compared to non-users. This has also contributed to an increase in household income and farm yield sold.

Dr. Alampay also shared that some studies involved cash transfer programs. Since many in the audience had cash transfer programs, some of them shared their experience in using technologies, such as e-cards and m-money, for their cash transfer programs. Among those who presented were from the DSWD and Oxfam.

The project was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre of Canada, and the Department for International Development UK.

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Open Forum

The open forum raised some interesting points. Some raised the issue about differences in context. Do different models (e.g. bank-led vs. telco-led) factor into the impact of m-money in a society? Related to this, if different telco providers have different m-money currencies, then some of the impact discussed might be muted in the Philippines, where SMART and Globe can exchange with each other. Perhaps, this poor ‘interoperability’ between m-money systems is what fuels alternative systems like pawnshops, where the type of mobile company does not matter.

A reactor also emailed some considerations on what might be causing poor take-up in the Philippines. He mentioned (1) transaction friction, or the awkward processes involved in using mobile money; (2) flawed internal processes within and between organisations; (3) the many alternative financial intermediaries in the county.

Ms. Grace Mirandilla, on the other hand wondered how the issue of 'trust' on service providers/telcos plays a role on use, given their failure to provide stable cell signals in many places in the country.

Microtel Hotel, Libis, Quezon City June 17, 2016

m-Money for cash transfers in the PhilippinesGiven that many in the discussion came from government and non-governmental organizations that have cash delivery programs, Dr. Alampay also took advantage of the occasion to disseminate his recently published research on “m-Money as Conduit for Conditional Cash Transfers in the Philippines.” The paper came out in the journal Information Technology and International Development (Summer 2016). This research was funded by the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion, and was among the best papers selected from the CPRSouth conference held in Maropeng, South Africa.

Attendees:Presentors

Erwin A. Alampay Sr. Fellow, LirneAsia and Systematic Research Team Leader

Noel Adrias Head, Financial Management Unit of Quezon City Local Government

Vicente Catudio e-PESO Digital Structure & Interoperability Advisor, USAID

Christian T. Deloria Director, DSWD Information Management Bureau

Nina Abogado EPS Project Manager, OXFAM

Adelia Soriano City Treasurer, Valenzuela City Local Government

Audience

Rosela Agcaoili Social Protection Specialist , UNICEF

Joseph Badoy Technical Assistant, CRC- University of Asia and the Pacific

Emmanuel Barcena President & CEO, Philippine Clearing House Corporation

Ely Cureg Researcher, Center for Local and Regional Governance

Rowena Dacsig Humanitarian Affairs Analyst, U.N. OCHA

Joyce Denilla Humanitarian Emergency Affairs, World Vision

Antonette Dungca Director, Research Division UP Institute for Small Scale Industries

Zinaida Farol Director, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) - UFMM

Audience

Marifi Gabriel Treasurer, Local Government of Malabon City

Anatoly Gusto e-Payment Ecosytem Advisor, USAID E-Peso

Arvin Gotladera Special Asst. to the City Treasurer, Local Government of Quezon City

Michael Mendoza Staff, CLRG-NCPAG

Ma. Karen Nonong Financial Analyst, DSWD-UFMM

Nico Mendoza Project Manager PACS, Philippine Clearing House Corporation

Demosthenes Militante Food, Security and Livelihood Advisor, Save the Children-Philippines

Randolph Montesa Landbank of the Philippines

Joan Odena Advocacy and Communications Officer, OXFAM (Guian)

Rebecca Oropilla Staff, Center for Local and Regional Governance

Agnes Palacio Focal Person, U.N. OCHA

Gamaliel Pascual Project Manager, Bankers’ Association of the Philippines

Lourdes Santos Research Staff, CLRG

Mary Grace Santos Consultant, Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Lailani Sero Team Leader, OXFAM (Tacloban)

Michael Tumanut Asst. Professor, University of the Philippines - NCPAG

Seok Yong Yoon Sr. Public Management Specialist, Asian Development Bank (ADB)

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