Mobile Money Seen as Chance for World's Poorest
Prodhan, P.

Being able to use a mobile phone for money transfers, bill payments and even savings would give some of the world's poorest people the chance to become part of the financial system, telecom providers and bankers have said. While microfinance is estimated to have reached about 100 million people through institutions such as Grameen Bank and small-scale community projects, telecoms industry group the GSM Association (GSMA) reckons that almost four times that number, who currently have no bank account, could benefit from mobile financial services.

"The Grameen Bank model works, but the scalability is limited. The problem is about the inertia of money. It is very difficult to move very small amounts of money fast," said Hannes van Rensburg, chief executive of mobile financial services provider Fundamo. Currently, about 3.5 billion people, more than half the world's population, have no access to banking services. However, 1 billion of those people do have mobile phones and the GSMA sees that figure rising to 1.7 billion by 2012.

Access to financial services could not only remove the need for long, costly and risky journeys to move money around, but also reduce the burden of constant, active money management endured by those living on tiny amounts and in constant danger of financial crisis.

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