There’s no disputing the contribution of migrant remittances to the economic well-being of friends and family back home. For many African countries, the value of remittance flows exceeds that of foreign direct investment.  

However accessing the money via formal channels can be challenging for recipients who are faced with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) requirements such as the need to present proof of address, or to receive remittances in person despite living in an area without access to a branch of the remittance service provider (RSP).  

There are opportunities for innovation in KYC and CDD processes to enhance remittance access but RSPs and financial regulators are not always aware of them, or do not know how to introduce them.  

Cenfri and IFAD have now developed the IFAD Remittance Innovation Toolkit. The toolkit builds on our experience under the Remittance Access Initiative (RAI), which we rolled out in seven African countries as part of the PRIME programme, financed by the European Union. The toolkit is also co-financed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Spain.

This toolkit provides practical guidance for regulators and RSPs on how to: 

1. Assess national regulatory environments 
2. Analyse contextual realities, highlighting key risks and opportunities for innovation 
3. Plan, implement and measure innovative interventions to address KYC and CDD barriers to remittances

If you use the toolkit and have feedback or questions we would be interested to hear from you. You can email info@cenfri.org