In order to improve access to finance among the segment of the population most disadvantaged and not traditionally catered to by the banking industry, in January 2013 the Congress of the Republic of Peru adopted a law on electronic or e-money (Act 29985). This established a minimum regulatory framework for the use of e-money as a payment method, filling an obvious legislative gap on this matter. Its aim is to promote the development of products and services that facilitate financial inclusion, under conditions of safety, transparency and reliability for the benefit of the population.

It regulates a range of matters, including the issuance of e-money; the companies authorized to issue it; the basic specifications and requirements for e-money transactions (payment for goods, conversion and reconversion of e-money, transfer of funds, etc) and contractual requirements for them.

To ensure the safety and reliability of e-money, the law has restricted its provision exclusively to entities under the scope of supervision of the financial oversight system and mainly to those registered as mobile-banking providers. In a country like Peru, where the population is scattered over a wide area and mobile-phone penetration is the highest in the Latam region, the use of (cellular) mobile technology to provide touchpoints for accessing financial services would not only considerably reduce transaction costs but also eliminate entry barriers into the financial system.