Mobile Money in The Economist; Video from GSMA Mobile Money Summit
The Economist placed the spotlight squarely on the mobile money industry this week with their cover story ‘The Power of Mobile Money’. Be sure to read the article here. For additional insights, check out the final video in our series from the GSMA Mobile Money Summit. The video is titled ‘Mobile Money – Inside Track’ and includes perspectives from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, SMART, Visa, Zain and the GSMA.
Highlights from 2009 Alliance for Financial Inclusion Global Policy Forum
The Alliance of Financial Inclusion (AFI) is a newly established organisation aimed at enabling 50 million people living on less than $2 a day to have access to formal financial services by 2012. AFI is managed by GTZ and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its members are central banks and other policy making bodies in developing countries. AFI’s first annual Forum took place in Nairobi, 14-16 September 2009, and was co-hosted by the Central Bank of Kenya. Click to view highlights from the event.
Keynote from Tim Attinger, VISA, at GSMA Mobile Money Summit
Tim Attinger, VISA’s Global Head of Product Innovation and Development, spoke at the 2009 GSMA Mobile Money Summit and outlined VISA’s strategy for mobile money in developed and developing markets. At a high level, Tim described VISA’s vision of taking the financial services industry, the products and services that are being delivered through VISA globally, and making those products available to consumers and businesses through the mobile channel.
Click to see the video.
GSMA Closer to Goal of Creating Financial Security for 20m Unbanked by 2012
The GSMA is providing grants to operators in order to accelerate mobile money deployments around the world. Today, we are able to announce the first four of these operators who will receive grants; these are AXIS in Indonesia, Oi Paggo in Brazil, Roshan in Afghanistan and SMART Communications in the Philippines.
Details on each grant provided below.
The Rise of Mobile Money in Asia
The Mobile Money for the Unbanked team has been keen to find out more about what is happening in Asia outside of the Philippines, or at least what the feeling was towards mobile money across the Asian continent. I have spent the last few days at the GSMA Asia Pacific Conference, which took place in Shanghai, China. This event is run by a committee of operators who set the agenda, invite speakers and host the event. The Conference attracts over 300 attendees with strong operator representation from across the region. For the first time at this event, which has been traditionally focused on roaming and interconnectivity issues, approximately a third of the agenda was dedicated to mobile money. In this post, I describe a few highlights from the event.
Article from Ignacio Mas – The Economics of Branchless Banking
Agent distribution and the economics of branchless banking is a topic of great importance to the mobile money industry. CGAP have done great work in this field, and today I’m pleased to share an important article from Ignacio Mas of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Originally published in Innovations, a quarterly journal published by MIT Press, Ignacio’s article offers a definition of branchless banking and a great deal of detail around the economic drivers.
M-PAISA Part 2: Interview with Zahir Khoja
This is the second part of my conversation with Zahir Khoja. In this segment, Zahir describes the significance of the phrase ‘The Hawala on your Mobile’, the market conditions that were taken into account when designing M-PAISA, the process and importance of agent training, and the alternative payment options that exist in Afghanistan today.
Learnings from M-PESA in Kenya and Tanzania
The mobile money community has watched (and compared) the adoption of M-PESA in Kenya and Tanzania with great interest. We’re pleased this month to offer an article from Gunnar Camner and Emil Sjoblom from Valuable Bits, and Caroline Pulver from FSD Kenya, which provides a full comparison of the factors which have impacted adoption rates in the two countries. The in-field observations and market research that their paper draws on provides an excellent summary of the contributing factors in each country – from market level to service design.
Roamware Acquires Macalla – Industry Investment in Mobile Money for the Unbanked Continues
I’m writing this blog post from Shanghai, where the GSMA Asia Pacific conference is taking place. As delegates were pouring back into the conference hall after the mid morning tea break, I was handed a piece of paper by one of the hostesses – all in Chinese characters except for the words, “Press Release”, “ Roamware”, “Macalla”, “MMT services”. I didn’t need the English translation to work out that this spells the latest acquisition of a mobile money solution by another technology provider.
M-PAISA: Zahir Khoja Describes the Challenges and Opportunities of Launching Mobile Money in Afghanistan
Earlier this week I had an opportunity to speak with Zahir Khoja, Executive Director – Mobile Money (M-PAISA) at Roshan. As the world’s focus turns once again to Afghanistan during the country’s elections process, I wanted to get Zahir’s perspective on launching mobile money in this complex environment. The challenges in the country are well known, but Zahir was quick to highlight the opportunities that come with advancing financial inclusion and developing important communication and payments infrastructure as the country rebuilds.
Today I will post the first part of our conversation. The remainder will be made available in the upcoming MMU Newsletter.
