Digital payment systems in emerging economies: Lessons from Kenya, India, Brazil, and Peru

Digitization of retail payments has facilitated the promotion of financial inclusion recognized to stimulate growth, alleviate poverty, and address gender disparities in the financial sector. This paper closely examines four prominent payment solutions in the developing world, which are M-Pesa in Kenya, UPI in India, Pix in Brazil, and Yape in Peru. We employ a descriptive approach to identify the main factors that have contributed to the success of these digital payment systems, focusing on the role played by: i) private digital platforms developers and providers; ii) regulators and central banks and iii) the degree of the payment system interoperability. Although, to some extent, these varied experiences suggest that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, they highlight the necessity of active public-private sector cooperation and placing the end user at the center of such initiatives.