2001
This Feasibility Study focused on identifying options for expansion and strengthening of the Postal Financial Services in Brazil, in order to offer a wide range of Retail Financial Services to the general public, and to the less affluent segments of the population in particular. The project was commissioned to Postbank International Consultancy, together with ING Brazil by the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union, acting in accordance with the Technical Co-operation Agreement with the Brazilian Ministry of Communications.
The study involved:
- in-depth analysis of the legal and institutional framework required in order to enable Postal Financial Services in Brazil to fulfil its intended mandate; this eventually resulted in the regulation on Agency Banking approved by the Monetary Council and Central Bank of Brazil
- market research among a broad sample of the population defining the extent of unbanked populations
- financial projections based on expected volumes of transactions (mainly mass payments and simple savings products);
- detailed descriptions of the short and medium-term IT platforms and processes to handle the volumes of transactions
The project was accompanied by a series of workshops with the management and senior staff of ECT and with high level officials of the responsible Ministry. The study included outlining the requirements that needed to be defined in the tender procedure regarding the selection of a financial institution/ bank that shall act as partner for further development of the sector.
The study was followed up by a pilot in a district with 36 post offices and extensive stakeholders’meeting as preparatory steps towards the tender for selecting partner banks in 2001.
