Upgrading Financial Markets

Expanding access to financial services may not be enough to develop markets in low-income settings: providers also need to be held accountable to consumers. We test this in a field experiment across 195 rural Sierra Leonean communities, upgrading Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) into mobile money and bank agents, cross-randomized with a monthly consumer feedback mechanism. Upgrading expands access, but feedback drives large operational improvements (+20.5 pp, 85%), particularly in privacy and consumer protection, raising usage and revenues. Upgraded VSLAs also show higher savings digitization and higher incomes, evidence that disciplining agent actions benefits not only consumers but also the principal that finances and stands behind its agent. Interpreted through a framework of delegated intermediation, we show accountability, not infrastructure alone, aligns provider incentives with consumer welfare and is central to designing scalable financial intermediaries.