Mr Budiman et al present several examples of successful implementa­tions of rural cash-in / cash-out agent networks, which enable customers to exchange cash for electronic money and vice versa. According to the Global Findex, 1.4 billion adults are financially excluded, and 31 percent of this group lives far from any financial institutions. Rural CICO agent networks are one way to address this gap in access to financial services.

Bancolombia invested in rural CICO agents in Colombia, allowing these private ventures to reach a significant number of rural customers. Without such an in­vestor, rural enterprises may find the up-front cost of becoming agents too high. Government subsidies can help, as can technical assistance from domestic and international investors.

To expand rural CICO agent networks, the authors suggest that providers of digital financial services: (1) carry out a comprehensive evaluation of the rural market in question; (2) consider outsourcing agent training to a third party; (3) in addition to training rural agents, create a salesforce to build rural demand; and (4) focus on engaging women as agents.

Pomelo, which is based in Argentina and also has offices in four other South American countries and Mexico, recently closed its Series B funding round. The company helps other companies accept their customers’ credit, debit and pre-paid cards, including through partnerships with the US-based payments firms Mastercard and Visa. The new investments in Pomelo, which total USD 40 million, bring its total amount raised to USD 103 million since the launch of the company in 2021. Kaszek, an investor in technology in Latin America, led the funding round, with participation from multiple other firms, including Brazil-based Monashees. Each of these investors will take a seat on Pomelo’s board of directors.