Mobile Banking
Mobile banking is becoming more and more popular in
countries of the Third World. While in developed countries almost all people
have bank accounts, only a small part of the population in under developed
countries has access to banks.
In mobile banking a person who wants to send money does so by
sending the amount via text to the receiver’s phone number. The person who
receives the money goes to an authorized local shop that and withdraws the
cash.
There are many examples for mobile banking in the Third World.
Hospitals in Tanzania send money to women so that they can pay for the bus fare
to the hospital. In Afghanistan the government pays its policemen by
mobile phone. Coffee plantation owners in East Africa send workers their money
via text.
Mobile banking has become popular where there are few banks but
where most of the people have a mobile phone. The potential market is
especially large in South America where only 35% of the people have bank
accounts but 90% have mobile phones.
Many mobile phone companies are taking over banking services in
under developed countries. In the last two years almost one million people in
six African countries have signed up with European mobile operator Orange. In
Kenya and Tanzania, British operator Vodaphone has 20 million
customers who send money to other people in the country and abroad.
In Pakistan, Norwegian mobile phone company Telenor has been
offering mobile banking since 2008. People can withdraw money at almost 11,000
shopsthroughout the country. Pakistan itself has only a little over 8,000
banks. Money transfers are limited to $120, with Telenor taking 5% of the
amount.
The number of mobile banking customers is expected to rise in
Third World countries from currently 60 million to almost a billion in 2015.
Over 80% of these costumers live in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
In the developed world mobile banking has not become a serious
option because most customers have bank accounts and transfer their money via
Internet banking. As more and more
Americans and Europeans
buy smartphones mobile banking will probably increase.
