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Abstract Mobile banking has been anticipated as the next step in digital finance for years. It is now, suddenly emerging in the developing world as a viable option for bringing banking services to the unbanked population of the world. The first part of my research question is: what issues resulted in the slow adoption of mobile banking? I find that the main reasons is the lack of a standard, providing a framework for innovations to emerge in. The second part of my research question then follows as, what are the dynamics between standardization and innovation in the Pakistani mobile banking market? To study this I conduct an empirical study of Easypaisa, analysing it in light of Information infrastructure theory. My findings are based on three topics. Firstly, that the establishment of the OTC money transfer standard has made the original plan for expansion change direction, focusing more on innovating on top of this standard rather than trying to change the standard itself. Secondly, my findings suggest that new trends in the mobile banking industry is requiring Easypaisa to change their internal system to allow for easy integration of 3’rd parties innovators. Thirdly, they suggest that the strong regulation of the branchless banking industry in Pakistan both enable and constrain innovation in the industry. I find that Easypaisa’s exploratory and bottom up approach to development have enabled them to be flexible enough to handle the regulatory standards imposed by the government and have enabled them to establish the OTC standard money transfer option. Further they suggest that the scaling of mobile banking solutions requires standard to emerge, however, it also needs flexibility to allow for innovation. I find that a bottom up approach to development of new innovative solutions is preferable to a top down specification driven process, also in the mobile banking industry. 1 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisor, Ole Hanseth for guidance and support. I would also like to thank Telenor research for making this study possible by accommodating me during my fieldwork in Pakistan. Last but not least, thanks to my family and friends for support and for keeping out with me during this period. Sondre Thoresen Wittek 2 3 Table of contents Abstract/Summary .......................................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................... 2 Table of contents ............................................................................................................................. 4 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 6 1.1 Background ...................................................................................................................... 6 1.2 Research question ............................................................................................................. 7 1.3 Motivation ........................................................................................................................ 8 1.4 Structure ........................................................................................................................... 9 1.4.1 Part 1 ......................................................................................................................... 9 1.4.2 Part 2 ......................................................................................................................... 9 1.4.3 Part 3 ......................................................................................................................... 9 Part 1 ............................................................................................................................................. 10 2 Review ................................................................................................................................... 10 2.1 Adoption ......................................................................................................................... 10 2.2 Financial inclusion ......................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Innovation....................................................................................................................... 12 2.4 Standardization ............................................................................................................... 15 2.4.1 Interoperability ........................................................................................................ 19 2.5 Platforms ........................................................................................................................ 22 2.6 Review results ................................................................................................................ 24 2.6.1 Main issues for the slow adoption of mobile banking ............................................ 26 2.7 Summary of topics discussed in the review: .................................................................. 27 2.8 Positioning ...................................................................................................................... 29 Part 2 ............................................................................................................................................. 30 3 Theory .................................................................................................................................... 30 3.1 Infrastructure theory ....................................................................................................... 30 3.1.1 Infrastructures, standards and innovation ............................................................... 32 3.1.2 Information infrastructures and control .................................................................. 34 4 Methods ................................................................................................................................. 36 4.1 Methodology: Case study ............................................................................................... 36 4 4.2 Data collection: Interview .............................................................................................. 37 4.3 Fieldwork report ............................................................................................................. 38 4.4 Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 39 4.4.1 Coding data ............................................................................................................. 39 4.5 Strength and weaknesses ................................................................................................ 40 5 Presentation of Easypaisa ...................................................................................................... 42 5.1 History ............................................................................................................................ 42 5.2 Regulation ...................................................................................................................... 44 5.3 Services provided by Easypaisa ..................................................................................... 45 5.3.1 Money transfers: ..................................................................................................... 49 5.3.2 Bill payments: ......................................................................................................... 49 5.3.3 Bank transfers: ........................................................................................................ 50 5.3.4 International remittances:........................................................................................ 50 5.3.5 Corporate................................................................................................................. 50 5.3.6 Easypay: .................................................................................................................. 51 5.3.7 Easypay NFC payments: ......................................................................................... 51 5.4 Interoperability ............................................................................................................... 51 5.5 Strategy........................................................................................................................... 52 6 Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 54 6.1 Information infrastructures ............................................................................................. 54 6.2 Easypaisa as an information infrastructure .................................................................... 55 6.3 Standards and flexibility................................................................................................. 57 6.3.1 The OTC Standard .................................................................................................. 58 6.3.2 Changing strategy for innovation............................................................................ 62 6.3.3 Top-down Standardization .....................................................................................