abstract:A banking agent is a retail or postal outlet contracted by a financial institution or a mobile network operator to process clients’ transactions. Rather than a branch teller, it is the owner or an employee of the retail outlet who conducts the transaction and lets clients deposit, withdraw, and transfer funds, pay their bills, inquire about an account balance, or receive government benefits or a direct deposit from their employer.
Down the street a pristine, nearly empty branch of Mexican banking giant Bancomer, devoted to money transfers, sits a few storefronts down from a cluttered travel agent offering transfers under the Orlandi Valuta brand--a subsidiary of Western Union's parent.