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
shops throughout 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 andtransfer their
money via Internet banking. As more and more Americans and Europeans buy
smartphones mobile banking will probably increase.
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