As an expert who has been in the MSME and financial inclusion industry for more than thirty years, I still remember the early days when technology first entered our world. The idea of replacing handwritten ledgers with digital records, or carrying money in a phone instead of in cash, felt almost impossible. Many of us worried it would weaken the trusted relationships between loan officers and clients. Others feared fraud or believed that rural women and men would never accept something they could not see or touch.
The concerns were real. In those early days, systems broke down, connectivity was weak, regulators hesitated, and clients resisted. We had to fight for every bit of trust — with staff, with communities, and sometimes even with ourselves.
But what once felt like a threat gradually became a lifeline. Mobile wallets, fintech solutions, and digital services moved from being experimental to becoming daily necessities. Clients who once resisted now depend on them for their livelihoods. What changed was not only the technology, but the way we learned to adopt it: carefully, responsibly, and always with inclusion at the center.
Today, Artificial Intelligence (AI) sits where mobile wallets once did: a promising but uncertain frontier. The difference is that we have the benefit of experience. We know the risks, and we also know that if managed responsibly, what begins as a challenge can become the very force that expands opportunity for millions.
Efficiency and Productivity: Doing More With Less
The last decade of fintech and mobile wallet adoption has already shown us what digital transformation can achieve: faster transfers, safer transactions, and more flexible access to credit and savings. AI builds on this foundation.
Automated credit scoring, AI-driven KYC, and advanced portfolio monitoring allow institutions to go beyond basic digitization. Real-time analytics can guide managers in smarter resource allocation. Chatbots and virtual assistants — layered onto mobile banking platforms — extend client support, offering services anywhere, anytime.
Not to forget, all of these advancements directly impact efficiency, productivity, and cost structures. If used effectively, they can reduce operating expenses significantly — and in turn, enable institutions to pass on the benefits to clients through lower interest rates and more affordable services. This is where the promise of AI becomes real: not just faster processes for institutions, but fairer outcomes for the people we serve.
Client Outreach: Meeting People Where They Already Are
Thanks to mobile wallets, fintech platforms, and services like CliQ in Jordan and the region, even the smallest businesses are now part of the digital economy. Shopkeepers, market traders, and micro-entrepreneurs increasingly use these platforms to cash in and cash out their sales and purchases.
In 2024 alone, CliQ processed nearly 84 million transactions, up from just over 30 million the year before. The value of these transactions more than doubled, reaching ~17.1 billion USD (12.1 billion JOD) compared to ~7.2 billion USD (5.12 billion JOD) in 2023. Interestingly, the average transaction size fell from ~238 USD (169 JOD) to ~203 USD (144 JOD), a clear sign that the system is increasingly used for everyday, smaller payments. The user base grew by 41% in a single year, rising from 1.18 million to 1.67 million, with 64% of users under 40 years old and 98% being individuals.
On the mobile wallet side, JoMoPay recorded almost 57 million transactions in 2024, more than double the 26.6 million recorded the year before. Transaction values increased from ~4.4 billion USD (3.12 billion JOD) in 2023 to ~7.4 billion USD (5.23 billion JOD) in 2024. Purchases grew by 158% in volume and 338% in value, while money transfers grew by 122% in volume and 72% in value. This marks a significant shift in preference toward digital financial services, especially among younger users and small businesses.
Here, AI is the natural next layer. By analyzing these transaction histories, it can generate business profiles, design personalized loan products, and even predict financial stress before it happens. What once required trust-based judgment from a loan officer can now be supported by hard data — without losing the human relationship at the core.
Looking Ahead (2025–2027)
If these growth rates continue:
- CliQ could surpass 2.5 million users by 2027, processing more than 150 million annual transactions worth ~25B USD (18B JOD).
- JoMoPay may reach over 100 million annual transactions by 2027, with values exceeding ~12B USD (8.5B JOD).
- The decline in average ticket size suggests digital finance will increasingly serve everyday household payments, not just big-ticket transfers.
In my opinion, if these growth patterns hold, they will not only transform how Jordanians and small businesses transact but also create a reliable digital footprint that can redefine access to finance. What once relied on informal trust will increasingly be backed by transparent, data-driven histories of income and expenses. For financial inclusion, this is nothing less than a second revolution — one that AI can accelerate if used wisely.
Moving Toward a Second Generation of Inclusion
The real promise of AI is not in making old models faster, but in enabling a second generation of financial inclusion. Imagine:
- MSMEs and micro businesses: access to working capital linked directly to e-commerce transactions, digital sales records, and supply chain data.
- Capacity building: AI-driven e-learning for entrepreneurs, tailored mentoring, and personalized support delivered through fintech platforms.
- Financial literacy and insurance: adaptive mobile tools that build financial skills step by step, while offering micro-insurance products priced dynamically and collected digitally.
- Agri-business: smallholder farmers receiving loans informed by satellite imagery, weather forecasts, and market data, disbursed through mobile wallets.
This is how AI intersects with the Fourth Industrial Revolution: by transforming digital services into full ecosystems that merge finance with livelihoods, resilience, and opportunity.
What We Must Keep in Mind
From three decades in the field, I see five guiding principles:
- Keep trust at the center. Technology scales inclusion, but trust sustains it.
- Be transparent. AI decisions must be explainable to clients and regulators alike.
- Build partnerships. Fintechs, MFIs, and regulators must move together.
- Address ethics early. Bias, privacy, and digital divides must be built into policy from the start.
- Adopt step by step. Even with digital services widespread, people and institutions need time to adjust.
Conclusion: A Positive Horizon
AI will not replace the human side of finance, but it can extend it. By building on the digital services and fintech platforms already in place — like mobile wallets and CliQ — AI can help us reach clients more personally, design smarter products, and create stronger, more inclusive systems.
The challenge is not whether to adopt AI — it is how to do so responsibly, ensuring that inclusion and trust remain at the core. If we succeed, financial inclusion will not just be digitized; it will be reimagined.
See also: AI will not replace you, but someone who uses it might | Opinion
In my opinion, after more than three decades in this field, I believe AI represents the most powerful opportunity we have had since the birth of microfinance. What makes this moment different is that clients are already digitally connected, generating real data through platforms like CliQ and JoMoPay. If we harness that responsibly, AI can help us return to the original spirit of inclusion — not only serving more people, but serving them better, with fairness, transparency, and trust.
