International Mobile Banking Updates - Nov 28

African Lessons in Mobile Commerce
"There is a frequent assumption that, with technology, Africa always has to learn from more developed countries. But what if it is actually leading the way? Perhaps it has lessons to give rather than to receive. Two newly-published reports on electronic cash, one from Forrester sponsored by PayPal, and another from A.B.I. are outlined in The Register. While in developed countries companies continue to debate when or whether people will use cellphones instead of cash for everyday transactions, in Africa it is already happening. How are they making it work?"

Mobile banking fraudster held; police unearth loopholes
"In a breakthrough related to mobile banking fraud case, Kohima police arrested one person who allegedly managed to squeeze out few lakhs of rupees through fraudulent means (via mobile banking service). Police, who cracked the case last week, arrested Mhao Yanthan (27) a college drop out, resident of Bayavu following a complaint from a prominent Kohima businessman. The victim said an amount of Rs 1.5 lakh was withdrawn from his SBI account by some person(s) without his knowledge."

Mexico dials up new market for cell phone banking
"As if wireless connections, global positioning systems and apps for everything under the sun weren’t enough, cell phones in Mexico are adding another trick to the trade: cellular banking. A new law permitting mobile banking services by cell phone went into effect here in August, swinging open the door to a massive new market for the banking and communications industries."

BPI unveils first mobile banking platform for businesses
"Businesses today need efficient cash management solutions that allow businessmen to dispose of financial bottlenecks by viewing and approving financial transactions on the go. This was the principle that gave birth to the Bank of the Philippine Islands’ (BPI) latest innovation for businesses which it officially unveiled recently—the BPI ExpressLink Mobile."

French bank and carrier team up to bring mobile payments to market
"French banking group BNP Paribas has launched BNP Paribas Mobile, a suite of mobile banking and payments services. BNP Paribas Mobile is the result of a strategic partnership set up in July between the banking group and mobile network operator Orange. The new service includes:"

Smarter than a smartphone?
"Communicating through radio link has come a long way since World War II. With voice calls, text messages, mobile internet access and built-in cameras, today’s smartphone is already a remarkable all-in-one handheld computer — but its potential could be even greater in the developing world. This is particularly true in banking. Asia’s fragmented payments infrastructure and large unbanked population mean that millions lack even limited access to branch-based banking, but rising mobile penetration is creating new options for person-to-person payments."

Mobile banking rises among youth
"Nearly half of Canadian smartphone users, or 49 per cent, are expected to do banking from their devices in the next year or two, a new survey from ING Direct says. In a release, ING said the number reaches 64 per cent when looking at smartphone users between 18 and 34 years old."

Visa is Tapping Huge Growth in Mobile Banking Volumes in Africa
"Earlier this year, Visa (NYSE:V) acquired Fundamo, a leading provider of mobile services for financial institutions and mobile network providers in developing countries mostly in Africa and the Middle East (See Visa Furthers Mobile Banking Push by Acquiring Fundamo). Leveraging its investment in Fundamo, Visa is creating prepaid accounts linked to mobile phones across Africa and the Middle East as the company aims to capture transactions from a majority of people in these regions who are still unbanked or under-banked."

Comparison: Zimbabwe’s mobile banking services transacting fees
"In Zimbabwe, those in tech (and banking) will remember 2011 as the year of mobile banking. Not in the sense of the use of mobile banking services by Zimbabweans, but more that it’s the year almost every financial institution and all mobile operators launched. One of the issues that have slowed adoption (or at least that discouraged some of us) is the cost of transacting. Last month for example, we compared the transacting costs of EcoCash to Safaricom’s M-PESA in Kenya and the conclusions we drew were that EcoCash was priced quite high."