Posts Tagged ‘mobile banking’
Posted on August 11, 2009 - by boris
FINO to launch mobile bankng services in India…
FINO (Financial Information Network & Operations Ltd.) has launched FINO-MITRA, a Mobile enabled banking solutions especially for rural masses. According to a research by FINO, Mobile Banking users has increased three times in India. Moreover 36% of population that are literate have mobile phones and have no access to credit.
FINO-MITRA (Mobile Based Information and Transactions) is an end-to-end offerings for enabling micro-finance initiatives leveraging mobile as a platform which certainly serves a good purpose in rural and micro lending.
Source: http://www.watblog.com/2009/08/11/fino-launches-fino-mitra-to-exploit-mobile-banking-in-india/
Posted on June 15, 2009 - by Gavin
Africa pioneers mobile bank push…
BBC News
Mobile financial services in the developing world could be worth $5bn by 2012, say analysts.
CGAP – a consortium that works to expand financial services in developing countries – said the growth in mobile coverage was helping to fuel growth.
More than one billion people in the developing world have access to a mobile phone, but no bank account.
In February 2009, Bill Gates pledged $12.5m (£8.6m) to help the world’s poor access banking services.
The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) said it thought the number of people with access to a mobile phone, but no bank account, would to rise to 1.7 billion in 2012.
It also expected more than one in five to use their mobile to access banking services, creating a market worth up to $5bn (£3.05bn).
“There’s a lot of excitement, but very little understanding what’s going on,” said Mark Pickens, microfinance analyst at CGAP. (more…)
Posted on June 8, 2009 - by Gavin
Kenya’s poor embrace mobile bank…
The National
NAIROBI // Each week, Bakari Iloka sends about US$15 (Dh55) to his wife, who is raising their four children in a far-flung village in western Kenya. But Mr Iloka cannot afford a bank account and he has lost money sending it through courier services, so he sends the cash using his mobile phone.
Mr Iloka, who sells traditional medicine in a sprawling slum of corrugated metal shacks and muddy pathways, is part of a micro banking revolution that is sweeping Kenya’s slums and rural areas.
A service, called M-Pesa (“M” for mobile, and pesa is the Swahili word for money), has become the cheapest and most secure way of transferring money in Kenya.
Its popularity with the lower class has spawned similar services in other developing countries.
“Before I would send money with the bus company,” said Mr Iloka, a tall man with a bushy beard.
“Sometimes the bus would be robbed and I would lose my money. With M-Pesa, once you send it, the money is immediately there.”
Mr Iloka recently walked into an M-Pesa agent operating out of a small corrugated metal kiosk in Kibera, a slum of one million people. (more…)
Posted on May 5, 2009 - by Gavin
Fortis Microfinance Bank Alerts Customers Using Clickatell SMS Receipts…
Market Wire
Mobile Text Banking Drives Adoption and Offers Compelling Banking Services to Underbanked Population.
LAGOS, NIGERIA–(Marketwire – May 5, 2009) – Banking & Payment Technologies Conference, Muson Centre — Clickatell, messaging provider for financial services, has been selected by Fortis Microfinance Bank to provide SMS Receipts™ to thousands of retail banking customers throughout Nigeria. Currently sending ~10,000 text messages per month, the bank sees tremendous growth potential as existing customers sign up and new customers look for compelling text banking services via mobile. As customers opt-in, the bank automatically sends text messages to registered mobile phone numbers immediately when transactions occur. Mobile text banking provides real time visibility to manage financial affairs, reduce fraud, lower call center costs, increase revenue potential, as well as offer under- and un-banked citizens the ability to bank where the opportunity hadn’t existed.
The World Bank reports that currently over 80 million people in developing countries are served by microfinance banks and confirms that mobile access to a range of services including savings, loans, and money transfers enables poor and rural families to invest in business opportunities, better nutrition, improved living conditions, and the health and education of their children. Microfinance banks are helping to achieve these social and economic objectives. Fortis provides banking products like credit and financing to lower income earners throughout Nigeria with a specific focus on developing and assisting start-up entrepreneurs and traders with the banking services they need to get started and sustain their business. (more…)
Posted on April 9, 2009 - by Gavin
Sierra Leone: Country is First for Mi-Pay Services…
All Africa.com
Freetown — Leading international mobile money services provider, Mi-Pay, yesterday announced a new win in Sierra Leone; making it the first West African country to benefit from Mi-Pay’s online and mobile international remittance solution.
The service will allow customers in the Sierra Leone corridor to use their mobile phone or the web to send/receive money payments to/from friends and relatives abroad – making it ideal for the region’s many migrant workers, travellers and expatriates.
The announcement is one of many recent wins for Mi-Pay in Africa. It follows the launch of its domestic mobile money transfer solution in Sudan, which is undergoing roll out by agent-based Saraf Mobile across North Africa, and precedes the anticipated announcement of an East African mobile banking deal. (more…)
Posted on March 11, 2009 - by Gavin
Amid Crisis, Policymakers Embrace Mobile Banking to Reach Unbanked Poor…
Fox Business
WINDSOR, England – Despite regulatory challenges and the financial crisis, policymakers are embracing mobile banking as a means of providing financial access to the unbanked poor. More than a billion people worldwide lack bank accounts, but do have mobile phones, providing a dramatic opportunity to achieve greater financial inclusion, according to officials meeting near London today.
“Mobile banking services offer millions of poor people a route out of poverty by helping them to improve their incomes and pay for healthcare and education. It is vital that policymakers ensure that the needs of the poor are central as they develop regulation for this innovative and emerging sector,” said Mike Foster, UK Minister for International Development.
To promote effective regulation of mobile banking, CGAP, DFID, and the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI: undefined, undefined, undefined%) have organized the second Global Leadership Seminar for high-level policymakers and regulators who set policy for branchless banking, including mobile banking.
“Mobile banking holds great potential, and CGAP is encouraged to see that governments everywhere are being deliberate and thoughtful as they merge the domains of finance, payments, and telecom to create a framework that balances customer needs with concerns around security and prudential regulation,” said Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO of CGAP, a microfinance center based at the World Bank. (more…)
Posted on March 10, 2009 - by Gavin
Global seminar to encourage mobile branchless banking in third world countries…
Mobile Tech News
Windsor, England — Despite regulatory challenges and the financial crisis, policymakers are embracing mobile banking as a means of providing financial access to the unbanked poor. More than a billion people worldwide lack bank accounts, but do have mobile phones, providing a dramatic opportunity to achieve greater financial inclusion, according to officials meeting near London today.”Mobile banking services offer millions of poor people a route out of poverty by helping them to improve their incomes and pay for healthcare and education. It is vital that policymakers ensure that the needs of the poor are central as they develop regulation for this innovative and emerging sector,” said Mike Foster, UK Minister for International Development.
To promote effective regulation of mobile banking, CGAP, DFID, and the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) have organized the second Global Leadership Seminar for high-level policymakers and regulators who set policy for branchless banking, including mobile banking.
“Mobile banking holds great potential, and CGAP is encouraged to see that governments everywhere are being deliberate and thoughtful as they merge the domains of finance, payments, and telecom to create a framework that balances customer needs with concerns around security and prudential regulation,” said Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO of CGAP, a microfinance center based at the World Bank. (more…)
Posted on February 13, 2009 - by Gavin
CGAP encourages mobile banking in Africa…
Source: http://ecommerce-journal.com/news/13132_cgap_encourages_mobile_banking_in_africa
As of today the biggest mobile banking player at the market has been M-PESA in Kenya with the service rates 45% lower as compared with other transfer services. The survey that should be released soon revealed that 83% of users say not having M-PESA would have a “large negative impact” on their lives.
Posted on February 12, 2009 - by Gavin
Mobile Banking for the Unbanked and the Financial Crisis: CGAP Sees Growth Potential in Developing Markets…
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — CGAP, the global microfinance center is releasing new research and data to encourage telecom operators, financial institutions and governments to see the business potential in expanding access to financial services for poor people in developing markets. The current economic climate makes the need for widespread availability of safe alternatives to cash even more pressing.
“This financial crisis cannot mean the end of innovation. Let’s remember that some of the greatest innovations of the past century — the pocket calculator, television, the World Wide Web — were created during times of economic hardship,” said Elizabeth Littlefield, CGAP CEO.
The biggest mobile banking success to date has been M-PESA in Kenya, which is 45% cheaper than other transfer services. A forthcoming independent survey finds 83% of users say not having M-PESA would have a “large negative impact” on their lives.
Though these are encouraging numbers, CGAP has found globally that so far m-banking has yet to reach its full potential. Fewer than one in ten mobile phone banking customers are poor, new to banking, and doing anything more than payments and transfers… [click here to read the rest of this article...]
Posted on November 25, 2008 - by lincolnw
Realizing the Potential of Branchless Banking: Challenges Ahead
Being able to make payments conveniently and securely is an essential ingredient in modern life and commerce. It enables economic livelihoods and supports many social relationships (remittances between geographically split families and friends), communal support actions (e.g., joint buying of staples), and public welfare programs (payments to needy families). Yet most people and microenterprises in developing countries must rely on physical delivery of cash or actual goods to make payments. This imposes large costs and risks on those beyond the reach of modern payment networks.
The lucky few have more efficient means of exchange: checks, money orders, direct bank transfers, credit cards, debit cards, and so forth. All these cut down on the need to carry cash, making consumers and their money more secure. Even handling and exchanging cash is a lot easier: consumers have debit cards with which they can exchange electronic value for cash at any number of conveniently located automated teller machines (ATMs)…{click this link to read the rest of the article}
Posted on November 3, 2008 - by lincolnw
Philippines: Ayala’s create RP’s 1st mobile microfinance bank
The Ayala Group has created the country’s first mobile microfinance bank. In partnership with Ayala Corp., Bank of the Philippine Islands and Globe Telecom, the new mobile facility will be called Pilipinas Savings Bank.
Capitalized at 500M, BPI and Globe will have an equal stake of 40 percent while Ayala Corp. will own 20 percent of the bank.
Ayala Corp. general counsel Renato Marzan said the venture will extend wholesale microfinance loans to microfinance institutions and other microfinance products in the future, and will use mobile technology to deliver financial services and expand its retail client base…{click this link to read the rest of the article}
Posted on November 3, 2008 - by James
PlaNet Finance Receives Grant to Start Mobile Banking Project in Africa and Middle East
PlaNet Finance received a $1.7 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support a Mobile Banking Project. The Mobile Banking Project, which is co-developed with Orange, will help PlaNet Finance use its existing mobile phone platform and infrastructure to provide microfinance clients with enhanced access to banking services.
Today, 1 billion people have a bank account, but 3 billion have a mobile phone. Mobile banking has the potential to bring financial services to the most rural and remote populations, providing poor people with limited access to these services the opportunity to save money, pay bills and apply for microloans.
[click here to read the rest of this article...]
Posted on September 8, 2008 - by James
MicroCapital: Mobile phones- changing the world we bank in…
Washington D.C., September 4 – What do these countries have in common: Kenya, Pakistan, Mongolia, the Maldives? They share political challenges, conflict, as well as having highly dispersed populations across varied types or terrain.
They are also pioneers when it comes to mobile phone banking. Here’s why.
For financial services, there are few alternatives to cell phones. Banking infrastructure (branches, ATMs, POS at stores, internet penetration, etc.) in these markets is dismal and slow to change, but cell phone penetration is growing fast. There are four mobile operators in Mongolia, a country with the world’s lowest population density (1 person per sq km) and where 400 villages are spread across a vast geography the size of the lower 48… [click here to read the rest of this article...]
The MiFi Report
-
