Payment via mobile phones gains ground in Latin America

"The new “Latin America Online Payment Methods 2013 – Second Half 2013“ by Hamburg-based secondary market research company yStats.com indicates that online payment continues its growth in the emerging markets of this dynamic region." Continue Reading

Mobile Money Transfers to be Driven by Emerging Markets

"A report from Juniper Research has revealed that mobile money transfers will reach a total of 389 million users by 2018. The use of such services in Asian and African nations will drive this huge rise in usage, which initially sounds surprising until we dig deeper into the issue.

The key reason for this is that the banking systems in many of these nations are not highly developed or widely used. For example, in Tanzania only 17% of people have a bank account whilst more than 66% of the population own a mobile phone. Many networks are keen to exploit this, following the success of M-PESA’s mobile money transfer services in Kenya." Continue Reading

International Mobile Banking Updates - Feb 28

Benefits of bringing mobile banking to the unbanked
"There is no doubting the growth in popularity of mobile banking. According to Juniper Research, the market for mobile payments is expected to reach more than $600bn (£393bn) globally this year – double the figure of February 2011. And many development organisations are riding that telecom wave to reach people who don't have access to financial institutions."

Over 30 Million Sign Up for Mobile Banking
"The number of people using mobile banking services surpassed 30 million last year for the first time as smartphone use grew explosively. The Bank of Korea on Thursday said a total of 37.05 million people had signed up for mobile banking services as of the end of last year, an increase of 13.3 million people from the previous year. Two thirds of them were smartphone users."

Research and Markets: Mobile Money: Mobile Payments, Mobile Remittance, Mobile Banking & Mobile Commerce Market - Advanced Technologies, Value Chain, Worldwide Market Forecasts; Analysis (2013 - 2018)
"The growth in mobile telecommunication services and ubiquitous availability of mobile phones are creating unexplored business opportunities not only for the mobile operators, but to a range of other industry participants. Mobile phones are known to transfer information, where as Mobile money enables it to transfer cash from one entity to another, it acts as an alternate payment method to transfer cash/ credit/ check and make financial transactions with the mobile phone. The success of M-PESA, which was launched in 2007 in Kenya and other African regions, has made the operators to focus on this market."

Kenya’s M-Shwari crosses Ksh1 billion in mobile banking transactions a month
"Recent estimates put adoption for M-Pesa, Kenya’s wildly successul mobile payment service for the unbanked, at 17 million users. The service that allows users without bank accounts to complete simple financial transactions, received a boost through M-Shwari, a bolt-on service that allows M-Pesa users access to savings accounts and loans, in late 2012."

‘Mobile banking will see explosive growth in emerging markets’
"Mobile banking will be the front runner among various trends and technologies in the emerging markets banking landscape. Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah, former Chief Justice of India, expressed this view while delivering the Karnataka Bank Founders’ Day lecture here on Monday. Stating that the country has around 675 million active mobile telephone connections, he said mobile banking will witness explosive growth and change the entire banking scenario. Because of their reach, ease and capabilities, mobile devices have recorded penetration of more than 50 per cent in countries with per capita GDP as low as $500. A majority of mobile subscribers around the globe are located in emerging markets, he said."

International Mobile Banking Updates - May 15

Mobile Banking Surges As Emerging Markets Embrace Mobile Finance
"Global use of mobile finance surged in the past year as the spread of new technology and mobile banking infrastructure drove a huge increase in take-up rates around the world, according to new research from TNS.

In countries as diverse as China , Brazil and Kenya the number of new users of mobile banking soared over 100% in 12 months, as banks leapfrogged traditional service models and moved directly to mobile. The increases were not restricted to emerging markets alone though: take-up rates also surged in the UK, USA, Singapore, South Korea and Sweden where banks offered customers new services via their mobile handset."

Kenya’s m-banking sector sets the pace for Africa’s emerging markets
"The strides Kenya has made in mobile banking were the subject of discussion last week during a four-day Mobile Money Transfer Conference held in Nairobi. Aileen Fraser, a programme manager with US-based MoreMagic and an exhibitor at the event, said they have deployed the Safaricom model in Sierra Leone."

Is the Middle East ready for mobile banking?
"Ali Abbas, Senior Regional Consultant, MENA & Turkey, will present “The Middle East Mobile Commerce Opportunity”, discussing the potential impact of M-Commerce on retail banking and mobile strategies worth replicating. The Middle East offers a robust mobile installed base with the UAE boasting 99.1% of households in possession of mobile telephones. The urban population serves as a key driver for mobile commerce as people move from rural to urban areas with expected growth up to 628,000 in 2015."

Chief Mentor: For Developing Markets, Mobile Operators or Banks?
"The opportunity to use mobile technology to enable financial inclusion among the world’s unbanked population is huge. Of the 6.9 billion people on our planet, just 30% (2.1 billion) have bank accounts, while 75% (5.2 billion) have mobile phones.

In developing markets, mobile banking could bring about a fundamental shift in the consumer experience, giving many millions of people who have never had access to bank accounts or to credit and debit cards the opportunity to quickly, easily and efficiently pay for goods and services and tap into the convenience economy that those in developed countries take for granted."

Latin American operators take m-banking user base to grow by 65% in 2010/15
"A recent research has revealed that the number of mobile banking users in Latin America will grow 65 percent between 2010 and 2015, from around 18 million users to over 140 million users.

Researchers believe that Latin America has achieved the right conditions to smoothly increase the uptake of mobile financial services, including banking and payments. Banking penetration is low in Latin America, but by 2015 85 percent of the total population will be an active user of a mobile device, making those devices a clear entry point for adjacent services, such as payments, banking and remittances."