The model for sustainable digital financial inclusion in Jordan

Abstract

This paper discusses the development of the payments sector in Jordan with the purpose of covering a wider spectrum of the country’s citizens to be included in the financial cycle, and elaborates on the sustainable digital financial inclusion (DFI) model the Central Bank of Jordan has adopted. It explains how the adoption of a collaborative model for mobile payments increases the digital financial inclusion in Jordan, reaching the citizens without bank accounts and allowing them to use their mobile phones as payment instruments to conduct all types of money transfers, regardless of the payment service provider they are subscribed to, and how this was made possible through the interoperability this model avails. It further explains how digital financial inclusion allows those money transfers to be recorded and documented, giving the country a deep insight, and overall control of the financial transactions that take place on a daily basis. The paper sheds light on the problem Jordan was facing in implementing a liberated and competitive mobile payment service, and how the central bank approached it with a solution that addressed all those problems. Furthermore, the paper clarifies the various benefits the mobile payment service offers to all the stakeholders, including the citizens, financial institutions, central bank, payment service providers and the economy of Jordan at large.