By:
Paul Leishman: January 26th, 2010
Globe recently announced that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has approved their request to use Globe Telecom Sub Distributors as GCASH outlets. Building on Globe’s announcement to launch BanKO in late 2009, this announcement marks the start to what will be a busy 2010 for the team at G-Xchange.
The move to leverage Globe sub-distributors makes sense. For years, GCASH have used pawnshops, rural banks, and Globe Business Centres as cash in/out agents, but haven’t made an aggressive push to use any tier of their airtime distribution network. Globe has pursued this path until now for many reasons, but let’s explore three…
By:
Paul Leishman: January 5th, 2010
The launch of Pakistan’s ‘easypaisa’ by Telenor and Tameer Microfinance Bank was one of the most exciting deployments of 2009. Targeting the massive unbanked segment and initially supported by a network of 2,000 agents, it’s not surprising that easypaisa is seeing early signs of success. Having been live for less than two months, almost 250,000 customers have used the bill payment or money transfer services initially available and there are positive signs that repeat business will be strong.
I recently caught up with Arif Qayyum from Telenor and Abbas Sikander from Tameer Microfinance Bank to learn more about their approach. Our conversation covered three broad themes:
1. The structure of a mobile operator / bank partnership
2. Approach to agent distribution
3. Their product launch roadmap and plans to drive adoption of an e-wallet
By:
Paul Leishman: September 14th, 2009
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.
By:
Paul Leishman: September 11th, 2009
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.
By:
Paul Leishman: September 10th, 2009
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.
By:
Paul Leishman: September 8th, 2009
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.
By:
Paul Leishman: March 30th, 2009
The Mobile Money for the Unbanked 2009 Annual Report will include a detailed case study on the Zambian mobile money market, including analysis of the marketing, agent distribution and technology approaches used by Celpay and new entrant, Mobile Transactions. The report also includes an overview of the Zambian regulatory environment based on a series of conversations with Payment Systems regulators. In anticipation of this case study, an interview with Lazarus Muchenje, CEO of Celpay, has been provided. The interview was first published in the Q1 2009 Quarterly Update.
