NEW DELHI, INDIA: Mobile banking is the hottest area of development in the banking sector and isexpected to replace the credit/debit card system in future.
In past two years, a mobile banking user has increased three times if we compare the use of either debit card or credit card. Moreover, 85-90 percent mobile users do not own credit cards. There is at least 36 percent of the population that are literate, and have mobile phones but no access to credit.
This is the potential market that would appreciate mobile banking solutions.
Financial Information Network and Operations Ltd. (FINO) has launched the FINO-MITRA a comprehensive package of mobile enabled banking solutions. FINO’s new product, MITRA, enables enrolment as well as banking transactions through the use of mobile technology, thus, increasing scalability at reduced costs.
Manish Khera, CEO, FINO said: "MITRA will ensure that FINO is able to reach out to a large segment of the 8 million rural subscribersof mobile phones who are deprived of basic banking facilities. Currently, mobile enrollment is being done for NREGS where data is made available with pre-populated fields."
The mobile subscriber rate in India has been increasingrapidly and stands at 362 million as of Jan 09. FINO MITRA serves as an alternate method of catering to the unbanked population of the country by helping them avail basic banking facilities.
The MITRA facilitates both as an enrollment and transaction device used by the FINO agents. This product enables the end user to use their mobile phones for banking transactions, as a wallet and for other mobile enabled commerce.
Showing posts with label mobile banking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mobile banking. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Mobile money in emerging markets still fragile, but ready to become a mass-market service by 2014
LONDON, UK: A new report from global consulting and advisory firm Ovum, reveals activity in mobile payment services (and more broadly mobile money services) is accelerating in many emerging markets.
The report titled, “Mobile money in emerging markets”, finds the market is still in its infancy, yet it has the potential to become a mass-market service, penetrating one-third of all mobile users in emerging markets in five years’ time.
However, much will hinge on how well the industry addresses various market barriers, and its ability to nurture user demand with clear, simple and attractive propositions.
The mobile money market has accelerated in the last two years in emerging markets, mostly in more mature markets. “The success of Vodafone’s Kenya subsidiary Safaricom with its mobile money service M-Pesa has underlined the potential for mobile money services,” says Angel Dobardziev, Emerging Markets practice leader and co-author of the report.
Yet, despite more than 100 launches of mobile money services by both service providers and banks globally the marketremains in a fragile state with few well-established services.
Whilst there is a range of alternative scenarios, Ovum predicts that the most likely scenario will be a market where service penetration reaches between 30 percent and 40 percent of the emerging market’s mobile users in 2014.
Where the industry resolves the market barriers more quickly than envisaged, an optimistic scenario is possible where strong user demand propels mobile money services to penetrate between 60 percent and 70 percent of the mobile users in the emerging market by 2014.
One of the key factors influencing market uptake of mobile money services is the relatively low penetration of access to financial services compared to higher (and fast-growing) penetration of mobile services.
Service providers along with banks will need to target unbanked and connected customers as they are the key demand driver for the market today, says the report. “Recruitment, training, incentivising and support of networks of mobile money agents will be key to service providers’ mobile money strategies, particularly when it comes to targeting unbanked customers”, says Dobardziev.
“Without access to an extensive distribution network for the users to deposit and withdraw cash as they make use of the service, users will be prevented from making the most of the service.”
In order to ensure early user disappointments do not extinguish the market, services providers must get the basics of the service right. “This means not losing sight of the fact that telecoms and banking have very different volume, size, margin and error tolerances on their core transactions.
As the two worlds draw closer with mobile banking, this will mean a different mindset and approach to service provision, reliability and security,” Dobardziev concludes.
The report titled, “Mobile money in emerging markets”, finds the market is still in its infancy, yet it has the potential to become a mass-market service, penetrating one-third of all mobile users in emerging markets in five years’ time.
However, much will hinge on how well the industry addresses various market barriers, and its ability to nurture user demand with clear, simple and attractive propositions.
The mobile money market has accelerated in the last two years in emerging markets, mostly in more mature markets. “The success of Vodafone’s Kenya subsidiary Safaricom with its mobile money service M-Pesa has underlined the potential for mobile money services,” says Angel Dobardziev, Emerging Markets practice leader and co-author of the report.
Yet, despite more than 100 launches of mobile money services by both service providers and banks globally the marketremains in a fragile state with few well-established services.
Whilst there is a range of alternative scenarios, Ovum predicts that the most likely scenario will be a market where service penetration reaches between 30 percent and 40 percent of the emerging market’s mobile users in 2014.
Where the industry resolves the market barriers more quickly than envisaged, an optimistic scenario is possible where strong user demand propels mobile money services to penetrate between 60 percent and 70 percent of the mobile users in the emerging market by 2014.
One of the key factors influencing market uptake of mobile money services is the relatively low penetration of access to financial services compared to higher (and fast-growing) penetration of mobile services.
Service providers along with banks will need to target unbanked and connected customers as they are the key demand driver for the market today, says the report. “Recruitment, training, incentivising and support of networks of mobile money agents will be key to service providers’ mobile money strategies, particularly when it comes to targeting unbanked customers”, says Dobardziev.
“Without access to an extensive distribution network for the users to deposit and withdraw cash as they make use of the service, users will be prevented from making the most of the service.”
In order to ensure early user disappointments do not extinguish the market, services providers must get the basics of the service right. “This means not losing sight of the fact that telecoms and banking have very different volume, size, margin and error tolerances on their core transactions.
As the two worlds draw closer with mobile banking, this will mean a different mindset and approach to service provision, reliability and security,” Dobardziev concludes.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
170mn mobile subscribers will make domestic P2P payments in 2011
NEW YORK, USA: If you think mobile banking is becoming popular, consider the market for mobile-enabled person-to-person payments.
Nearly three times as many consumers globally will use their mobile phones to make domestic person to person payments than those who will use their mobile phones to conduct traditional banking functions by the end of 2011, according to an ABI Research forecast.
“The developing world is embracing mobile domestic person to person payments with enthusiasm wherever they are offered,” says senior analyst Mark Beccue. “It is becoming the first financial service for previously ‘unbanked’ people, and may make a real contribution towards lifting them out of poverty.”
In addition to gaining an ideal introductory financial service, banks –- with the help of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) –- are extending their reach. Traditional banks have had a hard time supporting bricks-and-mortar operations in many developing regions. Mobile gives them a chance to extend their banking services without having to build major infrastructure.
There has to be an interface between a number on a screen and the real, cash economy. So in many such regions, MNOs’ retail agents are becoming “stored value operators,” and conduits for local bankers.
However, there are some impediments to this market’s development. “Growth of mobile financial services in the developing world is sometimes hindered by regulatory barriers,” says Beccue.
“Every country has different banking rules. Some are more sophisticated, some less. Whoever is trying to put such a financial ecosystem together may have a lot of hoops to jump through. But they are increasingly successful despite the obstacles.”
Nearly three times as many consumers globally will use their mobile phones to make domestic person to person payments than those who will use their mobile phones to conduct traditional banking functions by the end of 2011, according to an ABI Research forecast.
“The developing world is embracing mobile domestic person to person payments with enthusiasm wherever they are offered,” says senior analyst Mark Beccue. “It is becoming the first financial service for previously ‘unbanked’ people, and may make a real contribution towards lifting them out of poverty.”
In addition to gaining an ideal introductory financial service, banks –- with the help of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) –- are extending their reach. Traditional banks have had a hard time supporting bricks-and-mortar operations in many developing regions. Mobile gives them a chance to extend their banking services without having to build major infrastructure.
There has to be an interface between a number on a screen and the real, cash economy. So in many such regions, MNOs’ retail agents are becoming “stored value operators,” and conduits for local bankers.
However, there are some impediments to this market’s development. “Growth of mobile financial services in the developing world is sometimes hindered by regulatory barriers,” says Beccue.
“Every country has different banking rules. Some are more sophisticated, some less. Whoever is trying to put such a financial ecosystem together may have a lot of hoops to jump through. But they are increasingly successful despite the obstacles.”
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