The Creation of a Digital Game to Teach Basic KYC Practices in a Microfinance Setting

Abstract

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the financial industry are required to practice caution when choosing which customers to approve. The Know Your Customer (KYC) process is a set of standards that ensure client authenticity through the collection and assessment of any information necessary to validate their identities and financial backgrounds. This study aims to develop a serious game for KYC training that simulates the process of customer verification and risk assessment within the financial lending industry on a conceptual level. 20 participants were divided into four groups (Video, Game, Hybrid, and Supervisors) and evaluated to see if the game was in any way effective in helping its players learn about the conceptual skills needed in KYC. The results showed a significant improvement in knowledge among those that played the game with only a slight increase in improvement for those who watched a video presentation alongside it. It is recommended that future studies be conducted with those outside the microfinance industry and that further builds of the game be improved upon to make it more accurate and accessible to those who are not familiar with video games in general as it would be beneficial to cater to those that wish to try games as a learning experience.