tailieunhanh - Mobile Money for Financial Inclusion

Finding innovative models to extend financial services to the poor has now become an urgent challenge. The excite- ment around mobile money has arisen in part because it is widely seen as an effective way to provide access to finance to millions of people around the globe. According to the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), roughly 1 billion people have a mobile phone but no bank account. Providing them access to mobile financial services will involve difficult implementation that is unlikely to succeed quickly. In addition to extending financial services to the poor, mobile money is expected to improve productivity by increasing the efficiency and lowering. | Chapter 4 Mobile Money for Financial Inclusion Kevin Donovan Mobile financial services are among the most promising mobile applications in the developing world. Mobile money could become a general platform that transforms entire economies as it is adopted across commerce health care agriculture and other sectors. To date at least 110 money mobile systems have been deployed with more than 40 million users. The most well-known system M-PESA started in Kenya and is now operational in six countries it has 20 million users who transferred 500 million a month during While the benefits of mobile money payment systems are clear observers remain divided over whether mobile money systems are truly fulfilling their growth potential. This chapter evaluates the benefits and potential impact of mobile money especially for promoting financial inclusion in the developing world before providing an overview of the key factors driving the growth of mobile money services. It also considers some of the barriers and obstacles hindering their deployment. Finally it identifies emerging issues that the industry will face over the coming years. Mobile money an ecosystem approach At the most basic level mobile money is the provision of financial services through a mobile device box .2 This broad definition encompasses a range of services including payments such as peer-to-peer transfers finance such as insurance products and banking such as account balance inquiries . In practice a variety of means can be used such as sending text messages to transfer value or accessing bank account details via the mobile internet figure . Special contactless technologies are available that allow phones to transfer money to contactless cash registers. Although mobile phones are central to all these uses mobile money is more than just technology it needs a cash-in cash-out infrastructure usually accomplished through a network of cash merchants or agents who receive a small commission for .