Banking with Agents : Experimental Evidence from Senegal
This paper uses a randomized controlled trial to study the effects of access to agent banking. Individuals were encouraged to open an account and transact at a banking agent or a branch of a financial institution. Compared with individuals who were...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/470981524164012687/Banking-with-agents-experimental-evidence-from-Senegal http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29719 |
| Summary: | This paper uses a randomized controlled
trial to study the effects of access to agent banking.
Individuals were encouraged to open an account and transact
at a banking agent or a branch of a financial institution.
Compared with individuals who were sent to the branch,
individuals sent to an agent increased the number of
transactions and incurred lower transaction costs with the
agent. These transactions are, however, only half as large
as those made at the branch because branch tellers are less
likely to share information about clients with others.
Banking with agents thus entails a trade-off between lower
transaction costs and lack of privacy. |
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