Momentum underway for mobile money - Barcelona summit

Details: Category: Mobile Finance; 01 July 2009; 8359 views

Great economic and social momentum have been kick-started by mobile money initiatives, according to reports from the Mobile Money Summit in Barcelona. The GSMA, the industry's standard-bearer, has announced that the first three applications to the Mobile Money for the Unbanked Fund have been approved...

The three projects are diverse, exploring potential for mobile money in a market where no deployment currently exists, viability of deploying a proven mobile money model in a marginal community (a completely new customer segment) and diversification of a distribution network to further extend the reach of an existing mobile money deployment.
GSMA Director Gavin Krugel stated, "These projects will not only provide mobile money services to the unbanked but they will also provide valuable insights into business viability and user behaviour for the rest of the mobile money industry...Based on updated research findings being released at the Mobile Money Summit and conducted with the CGAP micro-finance centre, there will be 1.7 billion unbanked customers with mobile phones by 2012. From the research we believe that mobile money has the potential to deliver up to US$5 billion in direct revenues for mobile operators by 2012 on the basis of being adopted by up to 364 million unbanked customers."
Given that the market for mobile money is gaining momentum and is primarily targeting unbanked customers, the CGAP-GSMA Mobile Money Marketing Sizing Study has provided in-depth research and analysis detailing:

the complex financial lives of the unbanked, including a profile of their approach to saving, sending, spending and borrowing money;
the path that prospective customers take on the road to adoption; and
the way that customers use mobile money and what they want to see by way of sophisticated offerings.

Innovative mobile money services are being pioneered and showcased in Basrcelona. Many of these services aim to provide access to low-cost financial services for millions of people, where traditional financial services are not within their reach or readily available. In recognition of the progress that is being made in this sector, the GSMA has announced the launch of a new MMU Award.
The first MMU Award category will be part of the Asia Mobile Awards to be presented in Hong Kong at the Mobile Asia Congress on 18 November 2009, and will recognise the mobile money service or application that has had the most significant impact on unbanked customers in developing markets over the last year, and which supports the goals of the GSMA's MMU programme. The Asia Mobile Awards will open for entry in early July and close on 15 September 2009. An MMU category will also included in the GSMA's Global Mobile Awards, which open for entry on 1 September and culminate at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February 2010.

Any such project, to be eligible, must involve providing mobile money services to unbanked customers living on under US$2 per day. In addition, entrants must explain why the project cannot readily obtain commercial finance or other sources of finance (including internal corporate capital allocation).
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