IA3 Financial System Development

The assignment encompasses the delivery of advisory services for the Technical Coop-eration project “Improving the conditions for a competitive Private and Financial sector in Mozambique – ProEcon" (PN 2016.2132.5) and is primarily related to Intervention Area 3: Financial System Development, with the objective of increasing the access and use of financial services for MSME in rural area. IA 3 work in the Provinces of Inhambane, So-fala, Manica, Zambezia and Nampula, and on national level.


Focus of the efforts will be on the less developed provinces Nampula and Zambezia, added to the GIZ program through the cooperation with the EU project “PROMOVE Agri-biz – Improving Rural Competitiveness in Nampula and Zambezia Provinces” (CRIS No. 2016/039-900)”.


Furthermore, National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) acknowledges that higher fi-nancial inclusion can only be achieved vie service delivery through private financial in-stitutions.  IA 3 “Financial System Development” cooperates closely with the Banco de Moçambique, the Mozambican Banking Association (AMB), financial service providers, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), building up on the two predecessor pro-jects within ProEcon, namely RAMOC I and II, which were aiming the establishment of foundations for agency banking in focus regions.

 

Services provided include, but are not limited to:

1. The Central Bank has actively promoted access to financial services for undersupplied MSMEs as well as consumer protection. 80% of 50 trained central bank employees pass a test, which confirms that they can supervise the area of agent banking. The Central Bank ap-proves two regulations, which improve access to banking products (e.g. opening an account, savings plans).

Key activities:

  • Collaborate with the Central Bank and commercial banks to identify joint actions to promote financial inclusion (regulatory impact assessment, joint platforms etc.).
  • Identification and prioritization of training needs of central bank staff in the area of dissemi-nation of financial services in rural areas and consumer protection.
  • Design and implementation of basic and advanced training on priority topics for the various employee groups (e.g. central, regional, on-site / off-site monitoring).
  • Identification and presentation of gender-sensitive approaches to basic financial education and product development, within the framework of the national financial inclusion strategy.

 

2. Bank branches of financial services providers and their agents offer adapted financial ser-vices in rural areas. 400 additional bank agents in rural areas offer financial services (hereof 70 in Nampula and Zambezia).

Key activities:

  • Advise the management of participating banks in setting up and optimizing agency banking and other innovative distribution channels in rural areas.
  • Participatory development, testing and implementation of the monitoring processes of bank agents by the participating banks.
  • operate with management of banks regarding the development and introduction of new banking products, especially targeting agriculture and agro-processing.
  • • Train bank staff in market research and development of new, including gender-sensitive banking products and models to train agents with respect to new products.

Other tasks:
Assuring linkages to the other outputs and implementing other relevant sections of the mod-ule proposal, e.g. the methodological approach for the outputs managing the risks described therein. The tasks also cover cooperation with other intervention areas and projects, which have a complementary focus (e.g. GIAE, E4D) and relevant actors (e.g. actors of inclusive business models).