As part of a growing effort to advance financial inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean through mobile financial services, the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), together with the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia, organized the seminar, “Smart Policies for Mobile Finance in the Americas: The Next Financial Inclusion Breakthrough,” in Cartagena de Indias, in February 2013.

A range of issues were analyzed at the meeting: the progress that has been made in several countries despite the absence of proper regulation; the importance of maintaining a dialogue between regulators and operators in the market; the need to develop a common vision on issues such as risks and interoperability; and that, at least in Latin America, there is still an obligation to prove the business case for entities that intend to provide mobile financial services to segments of the population that have so far been excluded.

The seminar concluded with a decision by the Superintendents of Guatemala, El Salvador, Paraguay and Peru to create a regional leaders group to promote MFS, which was later embraced by regulators from Colombia, Mexico and Bolivia, which all agreed to take part in the initiative. The first meeting of the Regional Roundtable, held in April 2013 in Antigua, Guatemala, reviewed and analyzed the issues mentioned above. It was unanimously decided that a study would be conducted to reveal the common features of countries that have experienced the most progress, as well as their experiences implementing MFS.

The purpose of this special report is to draw lessons from these countries’ shared experiences, explore what has been done in each country to develop and advance MFS and examine the diverse approaches required by the unique socioeconomic contexts in which these regulators and policymakers operate. It highlights views on alternative mobile financial services models (bank and non-bank) used in each country and, to the extent possible, explores the results achieved so far, even though they are quite recent reforms or still in the project phase. This study will allow AFI member institutions to learn about a broad range of practices from both within and outside the region aimed at regulating mobile financial services.

_{Note: This publication is available in English or Spanish. Please choose your language option using the above download link.}