Although two-thirds of Malawians lack formal financial services, the National Identity (NID) card that was issued to most adults in 2017-18 establishes a good foundation for rapidly increasing access. With regulatory commitment to its use and further investment to enable electronic know-your-customer (e-KYC1 ), the NID has the potential to enable easier access not just to payments but also to savings, credit, insurance, and investment products, especially for marginalized segments of the population.

The first step of registering and issuing the identification has largely been accomplished. At the time of this study in July 2018, approximately 9.2 million Malawians that are 16 years of age and over had been registered for an NID and 8.6 million NID cards had already been issued. In other words, over 98 percent of the adult population had been registered and over 93 percent of the registered adult population had been issued NID cards. …

Quelle / Link: Malawi Digital Financial ID Feasibility Assessment