Due to its timing at the end of the conference, the day-long Leadership Forum was a good venue for distilling some of the big-picture regulatory questions that emerged during the preceding sessions. Fairly quickly, Leadership Forum panelists and participants converged on three broad areas of consensus. First, high-quality, accountable agents are necessary for successful mobile money deployments. Second, proportionality in applying customer risk management rules is essential. Third, engagement with financial regulators is a critical success factor for mobile money deployments. The challenge in the Leadership Forum was to discuss just what these broad points meant at a more granular level.
Archive
Archive for Latin America
2010 Mobile Money Summit – Day 1: Mobile Money for the Unbanked Working Group
By: Camilo Tellez: May 25th, 2010Today, the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro has been the host of the 5th Mobile Money for the Unbanked Working Group. The MMU Programme is at its midpoint and since its inception in February 2009, we have not only built a strong grant portfolio of over 19 projects; but have also witnessed the emergence of approximately 147 mobile money deployments worldwide. In the past twelve months, the MMU programme has set itself a goal – to provide mobile money services to 20 million unbanked consumers by 2012.
Spotlight on Latin America: Colombia
By: Camilo Tellez: April 13th, 2010In spite of its tumultuous political history, President Alvaro Uribe’s democratic security policy and pro-market reforms have resulted in an enhanced investment climate and burgeoning telecom market. Between 2003 and 2008, Colombia grew as never seen before: on average 5.5 percent of GDP each year, and exceeded Brazil, Chile and Mexico. However, unlike its neighbours who used this period of growth for poverty alleviation, Colombia’s poverty levels remained relatively unaffected and is still suffering from crippling income inequality.
Spotlight on Latin America: The Southern Cone
By: Camilo Tellez: March 12th, 2010In this second entry to our spotlight on Latin America series we will explore the southern cone. Comprised of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, this is a highly diverse group which overall exhibits the highest HDI (Human Development Index) of Latin America, and its relatively high standard of living make it the most prosperous macro-region. That is not to say that mobile money for the unbanked does not have a place in these countries. In Argentina for example, the economic collapse in 2001 left more than half of the population living in poverty and completely eroded the trust in the banking sector.
Mobile Money Spotlight on Latin America
By: Camilo Tellez: March 1st, 2010In May 2010, the Mobile Money Summit will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. While the event has a global remit, it will provide a unique opportunity to highlight the coming of age of Mobile Money for the Unbanked (MMU) in Latin America. In anticipation of the event, I will be writing a series of posts focusing on the region, showcasing along the way the current opportunities and challenges in the deployment and implementation of mobile money. This will be a 3-part series, with each post to follow focusing on developments in the following Latin American regions:
- Southern Cone and Brazil
- The Andean region
- Mexico and Central America.
News Tracker
- 1. Vodacom South Africa launches M-Pesa
- 2. Easypaisa introduces donation service
- 3. Yu Cash offer international remittances from US and UK
- 4. Easypaisa introduces international money transfer service
- 5. Maroc Telecom Launches HomeSend
- 6. Bank of Philippine Islands and Globe Telecom launch cashierless payment service
- 7. Mobile Phone banking and insurance transforming the world
- 8. Mobile money’s innovation crisis
- 9. Safaricom's M-Pesa Users Rise to 61% in July From Year Ago