Los Angeles Times Half of the world’s population does not have a bank account, with many people saying they make too little money to bother with the cost or hassle of opening one, a new Gallup survey from the World Bank found. Instead, many turn to cheaper alternatives to save or transfer money, including their
Category Archives: Global News
European Commission to probe UK mobile payments joint venture
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION (EC) has announced plans to launch an in-depth probe into a mobile payments joint-venture between the UK’s largest mobile operators. The venture named Project Oscar was announced last month and sees O2, Vodafone and Everything Everywhere aiming to deliver a standalone mobile payments solution in time for the London 2012 Olympics. However,
Mobile money penetrates Africa through Facebook
Social Labs The concept of using Facebook as a premier secure channel to exchange mobile money between friends will grow in significance and quickly – so claim the business leaders behind ZunguZ, a multi-tiered platform that integrates deeply into the social graph and a host of financial services to empower the consumer. ZunguZ is the
Etisalat extends Afghan mobile payments
UAE telco Etisalat has partnered with Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) to expand its mobile payment services in the war torn state, it was announced on Sunday. The move will enable customers of the Afghan utility giant’s 300,000 customers in Kabul to pay their electricity bills through Etisalat’s mobile payment system. Last month, the Abu
The Brave New World of Mobile Payment
By Ruediger Koch The recent MobileMoneyAfrica Summit showed impressively just how far ahead Africa is compared to the developed world when it comes to mobile payment. Of necessity, of course: Mobile phones are ubiquitous there, but only a minority of Africans hold a bank account. There are already serious efforts under way to create a
Will Mobile Phones Make Western Union Obsolete?
Brett Horn | Morningstar Western Union’s (WU) business model remains sound, in our view. We see any trend toward mobile money transfers as evolutionary, not disruptive, and we think Western Union still looks like the long-term winner in the scenario of a gradual shift toward mobile money transfers. We think Western Union’s customer base would
Haiti – Technology : Subsidies transfer via mobile phone !
Money transfers by mobile phone for home repairs in Haiti, a world first. Since early March, Haitian families began receiving cash payments through the first mechanism of money transfer via mobile phones to support housing reconstruction after the disaster. More than 2,000 mobile money transfers are planned in the next three months to 1,000 low-income
End of Nokia Money in India
The Mobile Money/Payment concept has taken a huge leap with the ever growing subscriber base in the mobile industry along with the introduction of Google Wallet and other such services which have been around for quite some time. But one of the largest handset manufacturer, Nokia, is planning to stop its mobile money service worldwide.
Ericsson & Western Union join forces to fast track mobile financial services
Ericsson & Western Union announce strategic alliance at Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. – First step is an integration of Western Union’s Mobile Money Transfer Network and Ericsson suite of M-Commerce solutions to support mobile network operators further accelerate their launch of mobile financial services – Strategic alliance enables mobile network operators to
Mobile Money – Why such low activity rates?
Killian Clifford – Director, Mobile Money Consulting, UK He will be speaking at the upcoming Mobile Money West Africa Summit 5-6 March in Lagos, and also at AITEC Banking & Mobile Money Conference in Nairobi, 7-8 March. If you wish to set up a meeting please get in touch. CGAP have released a very interesting
