Banking the Unbanked: Mobile Financial Services Could Benefit 2 Billion People, Says Report

According to a recent report by the Boston Consulting Group, introducing mobile financial services to the “unbanked” could have a positive effect on more than 2 billion people. The study named “Socio-economic impact of mobile financial services” also shows that economic inequality...

Visa Acquires Fundamo for Greater Foothold in Develping Market Mobile Banking

Visa Inc. today announced that it is acquiring Fundamo, a leading platform provider of mobile financial services for mobile network operators and financial institutions in developing economies. It also announced a new, long-term commercial agreement with Monitise plc (LSE: MONI.L), a leading provider...

Banking the Unbanked: Report Examines Mobile Banking in Emerging Markets

Despite the broad awareness that mobile financial services can serve as a means for “banking the unbanked” on a global basis, widespread adoption has yet to be achieved, according to the Mobile Financial Services Development Report 2011, a new report released by the World Economic Forum and The Boston...

Mobile Financial Solutions Providers Advocate Open Mobile Money Transfer Ecosystem

Money Transfer Industry Urged to Inter-connect at IAMTN Conference: Luup and Dhasatra Advocate an Open Mobile Money Transfer Ecosystem. Luup, a mobile financial solutions provider with offices in UAE, Norway and the UK, outlined key success factors for building a seamless remittances ecosystem that...

In Rural Kenya, M-Pesa Used as Savings Account Too

In Kenya, with banks often few and far between, 65% of population uses M-PESA. 81 percent of M-PESA users said they used M-PESA for saving. As the developed world begins its recovery from the global economic meltdown, the financial architecture in parts of the developing world is being rapidly transformed...

Driving Customer Usage of Mobile Money for the Unbanked

The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona hosted a Working Group for its “Mobile Money for the Unbanked” program. The group has now release a new report the outlines strategies for building the customer base of mobile money users. The report, entitled “Driving Customer Usage of Mobile Money for...

Brazil: Promising Market for Mobile Payments

With a penetration rate over 102%, Brazil has one of the largest rates of cell phones in Latin America. Despite of that, the mobile payment market in the country is still small, with few transaction  made through cell phone. Nevertheless, due to the enormous potential of the mobile payment market in Brazil,...

M-PESA Wins “Mobile Money for the Unbanked” Award

Safaricom’s M-PESA has won the Mobile Money for the Unbanked Award at this year’s Global Mobile Awards 2011 which is being held in Barcelona, Spain between February 14th and 17th. The M-PESA service was launched in March 2007. As of the end of 2010, the service had over 13.5 million customers...

Paybox 3rd Generation “Mobiliser” Product Goes Live

Paybox, a provider of mobile payment enterprise solutions, announced the paybox Mobiliser products, which allow mobile operators and financial service providers worldwide successful market entry into mobile payment and mobile commerce. In developed markets, paybox — beyond mobile person-to-person...