Page 17 - The Digital Financial Services (DFS) Ecosystem

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Ecosystem

of infrastructure readiness. In addition, a certain degree of payments system interoperability among
participants in payments is a necessary component of infrastructure readiness.
– Voice and Data Communication Networks to support financial messaging among end users and
providers. Certain levels of communication network quality and security are a necessary component
of infrastructure readiness.

– Energy Availability sufficient to support the users of a digital financial ecosystems.
– Identity Systems capable of identifying end users and their providers, and authentication systems
capable of recognizing and validating these identities. Identity systems may be national ID’s, sectorial
ID’s (e.g. financial industry identifiers, bank account numbers, mobile phone numbers) or private
sector ID’s (e.g. WeChat or PayPal identifiers) are also important in the DFS ecosystem. Some national
ID’s in particular are biometrically enabled; this is expected to become a significant part of the
ecosystem.
• The Enabling Environment consists of:

– Laws and regulations implementing those laws: these include the basic permissions given to financial
institutions in the countries; the authority of financial regulators, and regulation and permissions
given to non-bank financial services providers. Similar law and regulation around the role of ICT
providers and the authority of telecom regulators may be relevant in a country. Some countries may
have specific legislation enabling or constraining eMoney or eMoney. Law and regulation pertaining
to competition and consumer protections are also significant in their impact on the development of
the ecosystem.
– National policies, particularly with respect to financial inclusion.

– Standards setting bodies and their standards. These bodies may be specific to one industry group
(e.g. EMV) or be more broadly applicable (e.g. ITU, ISO, ANSI).

– Industry groups which act on behalf of large numbers of individual providers – these are most typically
industry-specific (e.g. GSMA, Mobey Forum).

– NGO’s and Development Organizations working to implement DFS ecosystems (e.g. World Bank,
CGAP, UNCAD, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.)
The Ecosystem also includes, of course, the many consumers, businesses, and governments that are involved
in the use and provision of digital financial services. This includes:

• Users – this term is used to include all entities which are users of digital financial services. This includes
consumers; merchants, billers, and other payments acceptors; businesses; governments; and non-profit
agencies. These groups can be collectively thought of as “consumers” of digital financial services.
• DFS Providers – this term is used to include all entities which provide digital financial services to end users.
It includes both so-called traditional financial services providers (banks, savings institutions, credit unions,
and other chartered financial institutions) and other entities, which may include eMoney operators,
postal authorities, and a variety of different commercial providers. These other entities are collectively
referred to here as “non-bank providers”. The ability of non-banks to act as DFS providers is constrained
by national law and regulation.
• DFS Providers Support Services – this term is used to include all entities which provide services to DFS
providers. This includes processors, platform providers, and a wide range of software and hardware (e.g.
terminals, ATM’s) providers. It also includes agents (who may work on behalf of either bank providers or
non-bank providers), and are an important component of the digital financial services ecosystem.

A note on providers: any given company or organization active in the digital financial services ecosystem may play
multiple roles. For example, an eMoney operator may be both a provider of data and voice services (in “infrastruc-
ture readiness”) and a direct DFS provider. A card network may be both a provider of a payment system (again, in
“infrastructure readiness”) and a DFS Support Service provider.

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