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M ‐finance and consumer redress for the unbanked in S outh A frica
Author(s) -
Ag Sophia T.,
Kunovskaya Irina
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international journal of consumer studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.775
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1470-6431
pISSN - 1470-6423
DOI - 10.1111/ijcs.12014
Subject(s) - redress , unbanked , complaint , mainstream , consumer protection , dispute resolution , business , financial services , financial inclusion , finance , political science , law , commerce
The paper describes the nature and impact of mobile financial services (m‐finance) and consumer protection in developing countries. Specifically, it explores consumer redress in S outh A frica's m‐finance, a sector responsible for rapidly drawing unbanked consumers in developing countries into the financial mainstream. The A ctor– N etwork T heory is used to identify key actors of transformational m‐finance in S outh A frica. Complaint procedures of the identified providers are reviewed and evaluated against the 2007 recommendation by the O rganization for E conomic C o‐operation and D evelopment ( OECD ) on consumer dispute resolution and redress. The research shows that although S outh A frica is not an OECD member, the legal and self‐regulatory environments have fostered what appear to be good consumer redress intentions by businesses. All providers in the study had consumer information on internal redress channels and some even provided additional information on alternative dispute resolution services in the country. Some shortcomings, however, were the lack of standard designs for online complaint forms and not providing expected time frames for the resolution process and possible solutions.