Presented by CATHERINE KANBGAI FROM SIERRA LEONE Artifact For the GSMA Capacity building Course on Mobile Money and Financial Inclusion on the Topic KEY REGULATORY PRINCIPLES: DISTRIBUTION AND OUTDOURCING OF MOBILE MONEY AGENTS IN SIERRA LEONE   Presented by CATHERINE KANBGAI FROM SIERRA LEONE

INTRODUCTION Mobile money is gaining acceptance in the country and therefore needs effective oversight and monitoring. There are currently 206,143 active registered mobile money users with 3,910 agents across the country. On average, the service providers conducted 1,897,621 transactions whilst the value of transaction stood at Le229.77bn as at end July, 2017

ROLE OF MOBILE MONEY AGENTS Customer Education Liquidity Management Cash in and cash out transaction of customers Registration of new customers Marketing of credit, savings and insurance products offered and underwritten by licensed financial institutions Attend to customer queries and complaints

Agents Due Diligent in Sierra Leone The current guidelines require that every agent has to be a registered business with a physical address. Principal should have clear, well-documented policies and procedures for Agent Due Diligence (ADD) and ensure that their agency business is at all times in compliance. ADD should clearly specify roles and responsibilities of various functions and individuals operating within the principal’s role with respect to agent management and supervision. Agents Due Diligence document should contain: New agent onboarding procedures Initial due diligence Regular due diligence checks to be performed at specified intervals

Agent Management and Supervision Bank of Sierra Leone in collaboration with Mobile money financial service providers should ensure Agent operational policies and procedures, especially those related to enforcing compliance by agents and master-agents are met. NATCOM and the BSL should ensure that Policy document on how principal will address risk such as overselling or overcharging by the agents are implemented. Regulators must ensure Contingency plan to mitigate significant disruption, discontinuity, or gap in agent or master agent’s function, particularly for high-risk areas are in place.

Risk Associated with Mobile Money Agent in Sierra Leone Risk of overselling or overcharging by the agents AML/CFT policies and procedures as they relate to agency business Contingency plan to mitigate significant disruption, discontinuity, or gap in agent or master agent’s function, particularly for high-risk areas Liquidity Risk

CONCLUSION The economy of Sierra Leone is largely informal, and a huge proportion of the adult population do not have bank account. Agents distribution nationwide will promote access to finance and financial inclusion in the country