Estel - Agency Banking
The world is shifting its focus from traditional brick and mortar structures to “branchless” banking via agents, with mobile banking services now becoming the new frontier for product innovation and channel delivery. Agent Banking delivers banking services to the door-step of the marginalized and unbanked customers, who, for are unable to travel long distances to do banking.
In this transformative landscape, Estel's cutting-edge solutions empower banks and other Financial institutions to go branchless, expanding their reach, enhancing accessibility, and significantly reducing capital expenditure (Capex) costs. This groundbreaking technology is poised to revolutionize branchless banking and banking service usage, particularly in developing economies, offering numerous benefits to both banks and their customers alike.
The Objectives include
To fulfill the constitutional rights of the unbanked masses who are also entitled to access to financial services
To leverage distribution channels and make the Bank more accessible to its customers
To provide low cost banking services to the poor who cannot afford to travel long distances to carry out banking transactions.
The Solution
Estel‘s innovative Agency Banking solution enables Banks to go Branchless, increase brand visibility, reach & accessibility & reduce Capex Costs. As a Branchless Banking Solution Provider, Estel is a well-known name in the industry. Apart from Agency Banking Solution, Estel also provides the following branchless banking software solutions: Micro ATM Solution: A human-assisted mobile-based ATM service.
Mobile Banking Solution: A fully featured mobile banking solution for banks.
Services provided by Estel’s agency banking:
Bank account opening
KYC capturing and verification.
Cash Deposit
Cash withdrawal
Domestic Money Transfer
Balance Check
Mini Statement
Prepaid Recharges
Bill Payments (Post-paid & Utility)
Components of Agency Banking Solution:
Agency Banking Solution, with its blend of card-based and card-less transactions, smartphone applications, and robust security features, emerges as a vital force in bridging the financial divide. Here are the Components of Agency Banking Solution:
Smartphone, Card-reader, and Printer
An agent equipped with just a smartphone, a small printer (Bluetooth thermal printer), and a card reader can start working as a banking agent. Smartphones equipped with Estel’s Agency Banking Application (a Smartphone App) are the main component needed to provide Agency Banking service. Card-reader allows ATM card-based transactions and Printer allows the agent to print statements and other transaction receipts. Agents without card readers can operate in card-less mode!
Agency Banking Application
Estel provides smartphone applications for Android & iOS platforms. The application is used for authentication and secure communication with the Banking environment.
Estel’s Agency Banking Software (Server Side)
Estel’s Agency Banking Platform is the software interface between Agency Banking Applications and Bank CBS.
Cardless Agency banking
Estel‘s innovative cardless Agency Banking solution enables Banks to go Branchless & increase reach & accessibility & reduce Capex Cost. This technology is expected to revolutionize Branchless Banking & usage in developing economies. The solution enables banks to:
Enroll a large network of agents (usually in a hierarchical network)
Provide them with float / liquidity (usually prepaid, in a wallet held in Estel platform)
Enable agents to open bank accounts for customers
Enable agents to use the float in their wallets to do cash-in & cash-out for bank customers
Estel Micro ATM Solution
Estel has created Mobile based innovative technology, which enables ultra-low cost ATM capability, operated in agent assisted mode, as Human ATM (also known as Micro ATM)
Estel Micro “Human” ATM is an innovative, mobile based ultra-low cost ATM, which is operated in agent assisted mode. The solution enables banks to appoint and manage agents, who function as ‘Human ATMs’, to provide following services to bank customers, on their ATM/Debit card:
Cash Deposit
Cash Withdrawal (cash out from bank account)
Balance Check
Mini Statement
Prepaid Recharge
Bill Payments
Beginning 1969 when ATMs were first introduced, they have evolved into high tech, very secure, full-fledged, feature rich banking terminals, offering convenient services to customers, and reducing costs for banks. ATMs are now spread globally, and available in most urban areas, even in emerging economies. Emerging markets face unique challenges in ATM deployment, making their rollouts slow:
- High real estate & support infrastructure costs & bottlenecks
- High operating costs (cash replenishment, security, rent, power, communications)
In emerging markets ATMs are mostly used for Cash Deposit, Cash Withdrawal, Balance Check, Mini Statements & Bill Payments, with cash withdrawal being the primary use case for most customers. In emerging markets ATMs are mostly used for Cash Deposit, Cash Withdrawal, Balance Check, Mini Statements & Bill Payments, with cash withdrawal being the primary use case for most customers.
Features
Salient Features of the Agency Banking Platform
High-Performance Engine
Estel's agency banking platform module operates on top of our proven high-performance transaction engine, capable of processing over 1000 Transactions per Second (TPS).
Mobile App Compatibility
Our Agency Banking Software Application is compatible with Android and iOS platforms, ensuring accessibility on most smartphones.
Case Studies
Banking the Unbanked
A small village in an isolated north-eastern region of India has just over 100 households. None of them ever had a bank account because the nearest bank is over 50 km away. But innovative bank contracts with the only village grocery shop owner to provide agency banking service. Now 80 households in the village have at least one account with the bank. They are no longer unbanked!
Doorstep Service
Several bank account holders in the small town of Kitale in Kenya are senior citizens who find it difficult to visit a bank branch for regular banking operations. So, they call the local Banking Agent whenever they need a service. This agent visits them at home carrying a smartphone, a card reader, and a small pocket printer to provide various banking services, e.g. cash deposit, cash withdrawal, balance check, account statements, etc.
Prepaid Recharge & Bill Payments
On average any household has a minimum of 5 bills to pay including utility services (water, electricity, phone, etc.), prepaid recharge of Mobile and TV, school fees, etc. Paying them individually at their payment centres would consume a lot of time, but at an agency banking centre all these recharges and payments can be done at a single desk and the consumer can pay for all of them using his/her account balance.
Domestic Money Transfer
Saleem, brother of Faisal in Lebanon urgently needs to help his brother with some money. But he does not have access to internet/mobile banking and the bank's working hours are already over. So, he visits the store providing agency banking service because this store stays open until late in the evening. The storekeeper can help Saleem transfer money from his bank account to Faisal's bank or m-money account, all securely authenticated by Saleem and executed by the bank’s trusted agent.
World view
Agent banking is silently revolutionizing access to finance, especially in underserved areas. Telecom operators and banks are reaping the benefits as this approach expands their customer base and drives economic progress. By turning everyday shops into mini-banks, it brings deposits, withdrawals, bill payments, and even loans to people who might not have a traditional bank nearby.
This convenience breaks down barriers for the unbanked, stimulates local economies, and empowers marginalized communities, including women, promotes financial literacy through agent guidance, and reduces costs for banks. Success stories across regions, such as Kenya and Bangladesh, highlight its impact.
The future of agency banking looks promising, with technological advancements, collaborations, data-driven strategies, and a focus on rural areas driving continued growth and financial empowerment.
Welcome to an era of cost-effective, secure, and accessible banking. We're transforming the banking experience by enabling banks and financial institutions to deliver services right to your doorstep. Our goal is to empower the unbanked population, ensuring their fundamental right to financial services is met without the need for expensive and time-consuming visits to far-flung bank branches.
What is Agent banking
Agency banking or Agent Banking is a model that allows banks to contract third-party retail and distribution networks to provide selected banking services to their customers, from their location or via ‘home visits’. These third-parties could be grocery/daily needs stores, stores dedicated to providing consumer services, or simply an agent on foot. This is a branchless banking model which provides significant benefits over an ATM, because of the presence of a human interface.
Agency Banking Software enhances the ability of Banks to acquire more customers, and serve existing customers better with lower costs, thereby contributing positively & directly to a Bank’s balance sheet and brand recognition.
Agency banking is particularly useful in cases where the bank cannot set and maintain a full-fledged brick-and-mortar branch due to economic or geographical limitations. A bank can set up an agency banking centre with minimal & affordable capital investment (CAPEX) and very low operating expenditure (OPEX), which is typically transaction based commissions or fees to the agents.
In its simplest form, an agent-on-foot can go to a customer or a prospective customer to provide Bank@Home or Doorstep Banking Service, using either a mobile phone or a POS terminal as the ‘banking terminal
