Category Archives: MMU Blog

In Indonesia, operators choose interoperability and collaboration
May 23, 2013 | Gunnar Camner | East Asia and Pacific
On May 15th 2013, the three major mobile operators in Indonesia: Telkomsel, Indosat and XL jointly went live with a huge milestone in the mobile money industry. It was an update to enable customers of each of their mobile money … Continue reading →
Creative risk management: what mobile money operators can learn from PayPal
May 13, 2013 | Lara Gilman | Global
It’s unsurprising that PayPal comes to mind when thinking about proxy industries for mobile money. Despite existing in completely different contexts, both services share a similar value proposition and rely on scale and networks effect to prove the business model. [1] … Continue reading →
Cash Recycling and Liquidity – How technology can help
May 9, 2013 | Fionan McGrath | Global
Introduction Liquidity is a cornerstone of successful mobile money services. Getting cash into and out of a mobile money service is the obvious first step to start using the service. This applies to both mobile money agents and customers. Many … Continue reading →
Re: Direct Deposits – A few practitioners suggest a “system solution”
May 2, 2013 | Philip Levin | Global
We received some great comments from readers in response to the recent MMU Spotlight on direct deposits. Among them, was a suggestion not included in the publication – addressing direct deposits through a system solution rather than the policy solutions … Continue reading →
What could we learn from Nigeria barring MNOs from participating in the mobile money market?
April 29, 2013 | Simone di Castri | Sub-Saharan Africa
According to its Maya Declaration the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has committed to reduce “the percentage of adult Nigerians that are excluded from financial services from the current 46.3% (39.2 million adult Nigerians) to 20% by the year 2020.” Mobile … Continue reading →
How MTN Uganda communicates to its network of 15,000 agents
April 18, 2013 | Guest Blogger | Sub-Saharan Africa
MTN Uganda directly manages over 15,000 active mobile money agent outlets, a daunting task for a single mobile money team. In this guest post, Shaibu Haruna, MTN Uganda’s GM of Sales and Distribution, shares their approach to agent engagement and … Continue reading →
MMU Spotlight on “direct deposits:” An expensive nuisance for mobile money operators
April 15, 2013 | Philip Levin | Global
Direct deposits have become an expensive nuisance for mobile wallet operators by eating into revenue, weakening customer engagement, and stunting registration efforts. One operator estimates up to 40% of P2P transfers take place through direct deposits rather than the intended … Continue reading →
Industry collaboration and coordination – some quick wins
April 11, 2013 | Gunnar Camner | Global
The GSMA 2012 Mobile Money Adoption Survey showed that there are over 40 countries with more than 2 live mobile money deployments. When meeting with different operators in the same market, we tend to hear a similar set of challenges. … Continue reading →
The incredible growth of EcoCash Zimbabwe: A chat with Econet Services CEO Darlington Mandivenga
April 8, 2013 | Philip Levin | Sub-Saharan Africa
Econet Wireless’s mobile money offering, EcoCash, is new to the mobile money scene but already making a splash. In its first 14 months of operation, EcoCash has raced to over 2 million users earning it a place amongst the world’s … Continue reading →
Why aren’t Pakistan’s mobile money customers opening accounts?
April 4, 2013 | Guest Blogger | South Asia
This is a guest post from Dan Radcliffe, Financial Services for the Poor program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Peter Goldstein, InterMedia. In a recent blog post, Peter used demand-side data from the recent 5,000 household Financial Inclusion Tracker … Continue reading →
Should you be cutting your inactive agents?
March 28, 2013 | Claire Penicaud | Global
“There is no “deadwood” – after 3 months of no commissions, agents are put on a warning list. Then, if there are 3 more months of no activity, they are cut. Any issues of compliance will be dealt with severely … Continue reading →
Hello GSMA Mobile Money Sprinters! Telesom Zaad, Telenor Easypaisa, UBL Omni, Orange Money announced as fast growing mobile money services
March 25, 2013 | Yasmina McCarty | Global
Photo from Left to Right: Roar Bjaerum, Easypaisa, Telenor Pakistan; Frederic Bléhaut, Orange Money, Orange Madagascar; Ibrahim Abdirahman, Zaad, Telesom Somaliland; and Abrar Mir, Omni, UBL Pakistan. The findings from the 2012 Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey counted 30 million active … Continue reading →
Is mobile money becoming a commonplace rather than a differentiator?
March 21, 2013 | Claire Penicaud | Global
Two weeks ago, we published the results from MMU 2012 Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey. The fact that the industry continues to grow fast is very positive, and growth in number of deployments results in increased competition. In this blog … Continue reading →
FATF updates Guidance on financial inclusion and releases Guidance on national money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment
March 15, 2013 | Simone di Castri | Global
Following the revision of its Recommendations in February 2012, FATF adopted it’s the Guidance on financial inclusion in February 2013. The Guidance paper aims to provide support to countries and their financial institutions in designing AML/CFT measures that meet the … Continue reading →
How we’ve been tracking the progress of the mobile money industry at the GSMA – Challenges and opportunities
March 14, 2013 | Claire Penicaud | Global
The GSMA Mobile Money for the Unbanked programme (MMU) has been following the growth of the industry for the past few years using its Deployment Tracker which monitors the number of live and planned mobile money services for the unbanked. … Continue reading →
Mr. Patate – showing how mobile money is the easiest solution for everyday use
March 11, 2013 | Lara Gilman | Sub-Saharan Africa
Last week we published our 2012 adoption survey and we learned that there are an increasing number of success stories in the mobile money industry. We announced 14 mobile money “sprinters”, who are leading the industry. From profiling these 14 … Continue reading →
A New Framework for Digital Money Innovation
March 7, 2013 | Guest Blogger | Global
This is a guest post by Lynn Eisenhart, Mireya Almazan, and Megan Oxman, program officers in the Financial Services for the Poor team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Financial Services for the Poor program at the Bill … Continue reading →
Enabling regulatory solutions for mobile money
February 28, 2013 | Simone di Castri | Global
Today MMU is releasing a policy paper that builds on evidence and lessons learnt globally around the regulatory reforms that enable mobile money to grow. Our aim is to provide a useful tool for regulators and mobile money providers to … Continue reading →
MMU announces the results from the 2012 Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey
February 27, 2013 | Claire Penicaud | Global
Today, the Mobile Money for the Unbanked (MMU) programme is releasing the findings of the 2012 Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey. MMU gathered data from 78 mobile money service providers, to create what we believe to be the most comprehensive … Continue reading →
A closer look at the risk of fraud in mobile financial services
February 18, 2013 | Guest Blogger | Global
Risk management in mobile money continues to be a much discussed and debated topic. Managing fraud in mobile money is challenging and requires dedicated time and resources from operators to ensure they are developing not only a commercially successful business, … Continue reading →
Airtel Uganda Targets Forgotten PINs
February 15, 2013 | Philip Levin | Sub-Saharan Africa
Anyone who has ever forgotten a website password knows that reset procedures can be frustrating and may become an impediment to ever using the service again. Mobile money PINs are no different. But for many of the previously unbanked users, … Continue reading →
Implementing mobile money innovations to deepen financial inclusion: Lessons from successful innovations in Kenya
February 12, 2013 | Guest Blogger | Sub-Saharan Africa
This is a guest post written by Tonny Omwansa, PhD, who lectures at the School of Computing and Informatics in the University of Nairobi. He specialises in low cost technologies for developing markets. He is the author of Money, Real … Continue reading →
Leveraging the mobile money ecosystem to increase traffic
January 31, 2013 | Gunnar Camner | Global
We have previously shared best practices in various areas such as distribution, marketing, and how to improve your internal procedures and org structure to accelerate mobile money deployments. But leveraging what is around you, and inviting external innovations on the … Continue reading →
New data provides window on mobile money market development in Pakistan, Uganda, and Tanzania
January 21, 2013 | Jake Kendall | Global
At the GSMA NFC and Mobile Money Summit in Milan on 22-25 October, I presented some new data from one the research projects we are sponsoring at the Financial Services for the Poor team of the Bill and Melinda Gates … Continue reading →
Opportunities and challenges in merchant payments: Digicel Pacific, Airtel Africa & Greenwich Consulting
January 10, 2013 | Yasmina McCarty | Global
As of October 2012, 26 mobile money services had launched the merchant payments product, whereby a customer can use their mobile money eWallet to pay a retailer for goods or services on the spot. Is there is a meaningful opportunity … Continue reading →
Organisational Structure to Win in Mobile Money: An Interview with Frederic Blehaut at Orange Group
January 3, 2013 | Philip Levin | Global
At the MMU Working Group in Milan this October, we had the pleasure of getting Frederic Blehaut’s thoughts on Orange’s approach to organisational design for mobile money. Frederic is the Business Manager for Orange Money in the AMEA region, looking … Continue reading →
Creating Awareness and Understanding of Mobile Money in DRC
December 19, 2012 | Fionan McGrath | Sub-Saharan Africa
Marketing mobile money presents many challenges to mobile operators who are used to marketing airtime. The customer journey from unawareness to regular use presents many obstacles not least because there can be a complete lack of knowledge of the service … Continue reading →
M-Shwari: Mobile Money Savings & Loans
December 6, 2012 | Yasmina McCarty | Sub-Saharan Africa
Safaricom and Commercial Bank of Africa launched M-Shwari last week, a credit and savings product for M-PESA customers. Customers can apply for a quick approval loan, open a bank account and move funds from the wallet over to an interest … Continue reading →
Know your processes: the first step to managing internal risks
November 22, 2012 | Guest Blogger | Global
This is a guest post from Michael Joyce, the co-author on MMU’s recent publication “Managing the risk of fraud in mobile money”. Michael is mobile money professional, specialising in operations, risk and compliance. He has experience in the design and … Continue reading →
Mitigating the risk of fraud through customer communication
November 19, 2012 | Lara Gilman | Global
As the mobile money industry continues to grow, the topic of risk management will become increasingly important. Our recent publication, “Managing the risk of fraud in mobile money,” discussed one approach to risk management that operators can use for mobile … Continue reading →
In Tanzania, an aggregator connects mobile money deployments
November 12, 2012 | Gunnar Camner | Sub-Saharan Africa
Mobile money has taken off in Tanzania over the last few years and about a quarter of the population are now using mobile money services. It is a competitive market where all four major mobile operators have launched their own … Continue reading →
Safaricom M-PESA’s H1 FY13 Results: A portrait of a maturing mobile money service
November 9, 2012 | Philip Levin | Sub-Saharan Africa
Despite the emerging success of a number of mobile money deployments outside of Kenya, Safaricom’s M-PESA remains a bellwether for the industry. Safaricom’s half year 2012 – 2013 financial results released yesterday provide a window into the evolution of the … Continue reading →
Microinsurance to reward mobile money wallet activity: Examples from Pakistan and Tanzania
November 8, 2012 | Yasmina McCarty | South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa
Both for commercial reasons and also to achieve greater financial inclusion, mobile money providers would like to see subscribers maintain balances in their mobile wallets. Storing funds electronically rather than immediately withdrawing the full amount in cash could benefit the … Continue reading →
The GSMA publishes MMU 2012 Annual Report
October 23, 2012 | Claire Penicaud | Global
It is a well-established fact that mobile money represents the biggest opportunity to increase financial inclusion in emerging markets. That was true four years ago, when a handful of mobile money deployments were advancing a new frontier for financial inclusion. … Continue reading →
Can mobile money work for merchant payments?
October 22, 2012 | Yasmina McCarty | Global
With P2P, bill pay and airtime top ups representing the vast majority of mobile money transactions today, mobile money service providers are keen to broaden their product offering. Merchant payments, a proximate payment from a consumer to a business at … Continue reading →
GSMA position on the taxation of mobile money transactions in Kenya
October 19, 2012 | Simone di Castri | Sub-Saharan Africa
Last week the Kenyan government announced a plan to apply a 10% excise duty on the fees charged by MNOs for mobile money transactions. This action would risk jeopardizing the mobile money market because it would mean a significant increase … Continue reading →
Introducing a new publication – Expanding the Ecosystem of Mobile Money: Considerations for Interoperability
October 18, 2012 | Gunnar Camner | Global
Interoperability in mobile money has been a topic of discussion within the industry for some time. In a new paper we look broadly at interoperability and outline some opportunities for better-connected mobile money platforms. Efforts made by the industry so … Continue reading →
“I am worried that agent training is time consuming & resource intensive …do I have to invest to train my channel?”
October 12, 2012 | Claire Penicaud | Global
Agent training is a powerful lever to drive agent performance. This week, MMU held a webinar to dialogue with mobile money managers about how to design and implement impactful and cost effective trainings. In the first section of the webinar, … Continue reading →
Announcing a new MMU Publication: Organisational Design to Succeed in Mobile Money
October 10, 2012 | Philip Levin | Global
Of the eight [1] fastest growing mobile money deployments in the world, seven manage mobile money as an independent business unit. Coincidence? Or is this organisational choice a key success factor? The operational challenges in launching and growing mobile money programs … Continue reading →
Announcing a new MMU Publication: Managing the Risk of Fraud in Mobile Money
October 4, 2012 | Lara Gilman | Global
“If you think risk management is expensive, try an accident.” – Stelios Haji-Ioannou (founder of EasyJet) Managing fraud and risk in mobile money is critically important to ensure the commercial sustainability of an operator. Indeed robust risk management protects … Continue reading →
AFI GPF 2012, day 2, and MMU contribution to the discussion of interoperability
September 28, 2012 | Simone di Castri | Global
After the first day was dedicated to the progresses made under the Maya declaration, the second day of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Global Policy Forum (GPF) provided the opportunity to explore different approaches to specific policy and regulatory … Continue reading →
AFI GPF 2012, day 1, and MMU contribution to the Maya Declaration
September 27, 2012 | Simone di Castri | Global
This week, I am in Cape Town to attend the fourth Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Global Policy Forum (GPF), together with MMU Director Seema Desai, and over 360 policymakers, regulators, and partners from 80+ developing and emerging countries. The … Continue reading →
Warid Pesa – Channel flexibility as competitive advantage
September 24, 2012 | MMU | Sub-Saharan Africa
This blog is written by Phil Levin and Gunnar Camner The mobile industry in Uganda is one of the most competitive in Africa, with six players vying for market share in a country of 35 million. Price wars are rampant … Continue reading →
Designing and delivering effective agent training programmes
September 20, 2012 | Yasmina McCarty | Global
There’s more to agent training than just training agents Agent networks in mobile money thrive when they have convenient ways to access liquidity, compelling commissions, well merchandised and monitored shops and, well trained agents. Well trained agents are more likely … Continue reading →
M-PESA, Airtel Money or Orange Money? This is why BoP customers choose one rather than the other
September 18, 2012 | Guest Blogger | Global
On the drivers of adoption in competitive markets This blog post was written by Tonny Omwansa, co-author of Money, Real Quick: The story of M-Pesa. The GSMA recently published the results from its Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey, documenting the … Continue reading →
In Kenya, microfinance is going mobile – Part 2
September 10, 2012 | Claire Penicaud | Sub-Saharan Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa
This blog has been written with the support of Tonny Omwansa, co-author of Money, Real Quick: The story of M-Pesa. We want to thank David James, CEO of Musoni and Sharon Langevin, Project Director of FrontlineSMS: Credit. Read Part 1 … Continue reading →
In Kenya, microfinance is going mobile – Part 1
September 6, 2012 | Claire Penicaud | Sub-Saharan Africa
This blog has been written with the support of Tonny Omwansa, co-author of Money, Real Quick: The story of M-Pesa. We want to thank David James, CEO of Musoni and Sharon Langevin, Project Director of FrontlineSMS:Credit. Read Part 2 here. … Continue reading →
BCEAO’s participatory approach to regulatory review: MMU’s engagement with the Central Bank of West African States on policy initiatives to increase mobile money adoption
August 27, 2012 | Simone di Castri | Sub-Saharan Africa
Please scroll down to read this article in French. This post is the fourth and last part of a series on the CGAP and the Mobile Money for the Unbanked blogs on the topic of mobile financial services in francophone … Continue reading →
What is the business case for banks to get into mobile money? The example of DBBL in Bangladesh
August 20, 2012 | Claire Penicaud | South Asia
I recently had the opportunity to talk to Mr Abul Kashem Md. Shirin, the Deputy Managing Director of Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL), a bank serving over 2.5 million people in Bangladesh. A couple of years ago, DBBL was facing a … Continue reading →
INOVA: An Oasis of innovation tucked away in the West African desert
August 16, 2012 | CGAP | Sub-Saharan Africa
Please scroll down to read this article in French. Today we continue our series on mobile financial services in francophone West Africa on the CGAP and Mobile Money for the Unbanked blogs. A couple days ago, we blogged about the … Continue reading →
Wari: A local platform heads to the global market
August 15, 2012 | Lara Gilman | Sub-Saharan Africa
Please scroll down to read this article in French. This post is the second of a three-part series this week on the CGAP and the Mobile Money for the Unbanked blogs on the topic of mobile financial services in francophone … Continue reading →
Senegal: A Unique Ecosystem of Branchless Banking in West Africa
August 14, 2012 | CGAP | Sub-Saharan Africa
By Omar Ndiaye & Sarah Rotman Please scroll down to read this article in French. This post kicks off a three-part series this week on the CGAP and the Mobile Money for the Unbanked blogs on the topic of mobile … Continue reading →
Is there a demand for mobile loans?
August 7, 2012 | Guest Blogger | Global
The following is a guest post by Elio Vitucci, Managing Director of Experian MicroAnalytics, as part of the series on airtime based credit scoring. Also read part 1 and part 2 of the series. According to a recent McKinsey Publication, … Continue reading →
Making mobile money work for business
July 26, 2012 | Ignacio Mas | Global
This is a guest post written by Ignacio Mas, a consultant on mobile money and technology-enabled models for financial inclusion. In a recent study of business uses of M-PESA in Kenya funded by the Financial Sector Deepening Trust of Kenya, … Continue reading →
Mobile-Enabled Savings via the Business Correspondent Model in India
July 16, 2012 | Grameen Foundation | South Asia
This is a guest post written by Debbie Dean (Project Director, Micro savings Initiative) and Camilla Nestor (Vice President, Financial Services) from Grameen Foundation. When we launched our microsavings initiative – a three-year project funded by the Bill & Melinda … Continue reading →
Zimbabwe’s Ecocash shows impressive growth
July 10, 2012 | Nishant Lalwani | Sub-Saharan Africa
Econet, Zimbabwe’s leading mobile network operator, launched its “Ecocash” mobile moneyoffering just 8 months ago, and has raced to over 1.5 million registered customers since. Zimbabwe’s mobile telephony sector is booming; penetration has accelerated over the last six years and … Continue reading →
Insights on the Economics of Mobile Money: M-PESA Key Revenue Driver for Safaricom
July 5, 2012 | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Sub-Saharan Africa
This is a guest post written by Mireya Almazán and Megan Oxman, from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. M-PESA continues to make headlines, increasing revealing insights on the economics of mobile money. Recently released financial statements from Safaricom indicate … Continue reading →
Tigo, Bima, and MicroEnsure bring a “Freemium” model to mobile insurance
July 2, 2012 | Philip Levin | Sub-Saharan Africa
Insurance is a complicated product but one where mobile distribution methods hold some promise. MMU’s latest paper on mobile microinsurance tries to lay out some of the options and complexities. The obvious question becomes: What works and what doesn’t? MicroEnsure, … Continue reading →
NFC mobile payments: A Case for Developing Markets
June 28, 2012 | Annie Smith | Global
The following is a guest blog post by Annie Smith, who heads Mobile Financial Services in the Pacific Region for Digicel. As readers of this blog, we can appreciate the position mobile money has in a GSM business. Within a … Continue reading →
Mobile money as an agent of financial inclusion: the new regulation for e-money services in Namibia – Interview with Sergio de Sousa, Bank of Namibia
June 25, 2012 | Simone di Castri | Sub-Saharan Africa
The following is an interview with Sergio de Sousa, Deputy Director, Payments and Settlement Systems Department, Bank of Namibia. In March this year, Bank of Namibia released a new regulatory framework for electronic money. The new framework aims to improve … Continue reading →
A new MMU publication on emerging practices in Mobile Microinsurance
June 18, 2012 | Neil Davidson | Global
One of the most important reasons that people use financial services is to manage risk. Insurance, in particular, is a useful way for households to protect themselves from negative financial shocks and other adverse events. Unfortunately, although a range of … Continue reading →
Competing in the mobile money space
June 12, 2012 | Claire Penicaud | Global
In the early days of mobile money, MNOs launched mobile money services to differentiate themselves from their competitors, hoping both to increase the loyalty of their customers and to attract new ones. As the number of mobile money services continues … Continue reading →
Accounting for the importance of airtime top-ups in mobile money around the world
June 4, 2012 | Neil Davidson | Global
As part of the 2011 Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey, we collected transaction data from participating service providers. This allows us to get a feel for how customers are using mobile money to date. The following chart breaks down the … Continue reading →
Benchmarking with the best
May 28, 2012 | Claire Penicaud | Global
One of the key objectives of the 2011 Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey was to give managers of mobile money deployments better insight into the performance of their service relative to others. This is why we prepared a confidential, customised … Continue reading →
MTN MobileMoney in Rwanda: a new mobile money success story
May 24, 2012 | Claire Penicaud | Sub-Saharan Africa
The 2011 Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey allowed us to identify 8 fast-growing mobile money services that are following the path of M-PESA in Kenya. Six of these 8 services are in East Africa, and after Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, … Continue reading →
The two paths that mobile money deployments tread
May 21, 2012 | Neil Davidson | Global
One of the objectives of the 2011 Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey, which we announced earlier last week, was to compare the performance of different mobile money services with each other. In this post, we discuss the surprising results of … Continue reading →
MMU moves into an exciting new phase …
May 15, 2012 | Seema Desai | Global
Last week, we announced that GSMA has secured new funding (9.8m USD, over three years) from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The MasterCard Foundation and Omidyar Network, for MMU to continue working with the mobile money industry to reach … Continue reading →
Announcing the results of the 2011 Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey
May 9, 2012 | Neil Davidson | Global
Today the Mobile Money for the Unbanked programme is releasing the results of the 2011 Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey. The survey is, we believe, the most comprehensive attempt to measure the extent of customer adoption of mobile money for … Continue reading →
Money, Real Quick: The Story of M-PESA
May 2, 2012 | Paul Leishman | Sub-Saharan Africa
Five years after its launch, the word “M-PESA” is routinely used as a verb in Kenya, so it’s only fitting that the service is now the subject of a book. ‘Money, Real Quick: The Story of M-PESA’ is a new … Continue reading →
Mobile Money: The View from the C-Suite
April 26, 2012 | Claire Penicaud | Global
Mobile money line managers cannot bring about success on their own; they need support from senior management. But, where does mobile money sit among the competing priorities of MNO executives? Watch the interview with Maarten Boute, CEO of Digicel Haiti … Continue reading →
Interview with Orange Money – Part 2
April 16, 2012 | Claire Penicaud | Sub-Saharan Africa
First launched in Côte d’Ivoire in December 2008, Orange Money is also available in Senegal, Madagascar, Mali, Niger and Kenya, as well as in Botswana and Cameroon. It will soon be launched in Mauritius. Today, we publish the second and … Continue reading →
Beyond marketing: building trust and the value proposition for mobile money through consumer education
April 10, 2012 | Julia Lee | Sub-Saharan Africa
Robert is a mobile money agent in Ghana. He tries to teach his customers how to use their cell phones to perform seemingly straight forward transactions: check account balances, deposit money and transfer cash. But unfortunately, Robert ends up exactly … Continue reading →
M-PESA extends its reach
April 5, 2012 | Billy Jack and Tavneet Suri | Sub-Saharan Africa
The following is a guest post by Billy Jack from Georgetown University’s Economics Department and Tavneet Suri from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. New data from the fourth round of a survey of Kenyan households confirm what every visitor to … Continue reading →
Extending Financial Services using Mobile Based Consumer Scoring
April 3, 2012 | Jonathan Hakim | Global
The following is a guest post by Jonathan Hakim, President & CEO of Cignifi, as part of the series on airtime based credit scoring. Also read part 1 and part 3 of the series. The Cignifi behavior-based scoring platform leverages … Continue reading →
Airtime based credit scoring: Can it drive innovative loan products for mobile money?
March 23, 2012 | Yasmina McCarty | Global
A customers’ pattern of airtime top ups is being used to determine the credit-worthiness of a prospective borrower and approve/deny loans. Will this technique facilitate the development of innovative micro-loans via the mobile channel? Is the data truly an adequate … Continue reading →
Mobile Water Payments – What’s in it for Mobile Network Operators?
March 12, 2012 | Ilana Cohen | Sub-Saharan Africa
This is the second post of a two-part series looking at an Oxford University study on the use of mobile money to pay for water services in Africa. Mobile money payments have the potential to make paying for water a … Continue reading →
Highlights from MMU Working Group at Mobile World Congress 2012
March 7, 2012 | Claire Penicaud | Global
Last week, MMU was in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress. Around 100 participants from various organisations and regions attended the MMU Working Group. For those who couldn’t attend, MMU is happy to share some of the highlights from the Working … Continue reading →
A new MMU article on the case for interoperability
February 29, 2012 | Paul Leishman | Global
Interoperability is one of the most widely discussed topics in the mobile money industry. Almost everyone has a view on the subject – and to make matters even more complicated, there are almost as many definitions of interoperability as there … Continue reading →
The Benefits and Challenges of Mobile Water Payments in Urban Africa
February 22, 2012 | Ilana Cohen | Sub-Saharan Africa
The following is a guest post we’re pleased to share by Ilana Cohen, Tim Foster, Aaron Krolikowski and Rob Hope from the Water Science, Policy and Management programme at Oxford University. Mobile money in Africa offers a promising tool for one … Continue reading →
M-PESA responds: Benefits and Challenges of using mobile money to reduce poverty for women in Kenya
February 21, 2012 | Ndunge Kiite | Sub-Saharan Africa
The M-PESA staff members were grateful for the feedback provided by the women’s groups. First, the workshop provided them with a broader context in which to understand how these groups were using their services in the rural areas. Second, they … Continue reading →
Mobile money technology: not easy, but why?
February 14, 2012 | Paul Leishman | Global
In recent months, mobile money services have attracted some unflattering headlines* in response to technology related challenges. When the technology platforms through which mobile money services are delivered experience downtime, customers are unable to transact and agents are unable to earn … Continue reading →
Benefits and challenges of using Mobile Money to reduce poverty for women in Kenya
February 9, 2012 | Ndunge Kiite | Sub-Saharan Africa
Over the past seven months, my colleague Dr. Jane Mutinda from Kenyatta University in Kenya and I have been studying how mobile money services impact poverty reduction in rural Eastern Kenya. So far we’ve seen that Safaricom’s mobile money service … Continue reading →
GSMA provides further updates on Mobile World Congress 2012
February 7, 2012 | Camilo Tellez | Global
The GSMA today announced further updates for the upcoming Mobile World Congress, which will be taking place 27 February – 1 March, 2012 at the Fira de Barcelona Montjuïc in Barcelona. The GSMA outlined new developments in the conference programme, … Continue reading →
Financial services demonstrate the most proven sustainable business models within ICT4D
January 24, 2012 | Hystra | Global
The following is a guest post we’re pleased to share by Hystra Consulting and Ashoka. A recent study reveals how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can viably provide access to education, healthcare, agro-services and financial services to the Base of … Continue reading →
An Interview with Orange Money – Part 1
January 20, 2012 | Camilo Tellez | Sub-Saharan Africa
First launched in Côte d’Ivoire in December 2008, Orange Money is also available in Senegal, Madagascar, Mali, Niger and Kenya, as well as in Botswana and Cameroon. It will soon be launched in Mauritius. At the end of 2011, it … Continue reading →
Mobile Money in Haiti: Realizing the promise of a complex new industry
January 17, 2012 | Dalberg | Latin America and the Caribbean
By Vicky Hausman, Yana Watson, Matt Shakhovskoy and Lorenzo Bernasconi from Dalberg – Global Development Advisors. In the aftermath of the earthquake in January 2010, organizations hoping to help Haiti recover were anxious to find innovative ways of delivering aid and … Continue reading →
Geospatial Analysis for Financial Inclusion Tracking
January 10, 2012 | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Global
The following is a guest post we’re pleased to share by Karthik Balasubramanian and Jake Kendall from the FSP program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In this blog post, we document the process of using GIS software and spatial … Continue reading →
2011, a year in review – Part 2
January 3, 2012 | Camilo Tellez | Global
As we start the new year, we are highlighting some of the major events and articles from the MMU blog during the second half of 2011, including the 2011 Annual Report and MMU’s first Latin American case study. 1. GSMA … Continue reading →
GSMA Announces Details of NFC & Mobile Money Summit 2012
December 14, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
GSMA Event Places New Focus on Burgeoning Market for NFC Technologies and Services The GSMA today announced that it will hold the new GSMA NFC & Mobile Money Summit October 22-25, 2012 at the Milano Congressi in Milan. With the … Continue reading →
BPI Globe Banko launches m-insurance products
December 7, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | East Asia and Pacific
Poor people in developing countries live and work in risky environments, vulnerable to illness, accidental death and disability, loss of property due to theft or fire, agricultural losses, and natural and man-made disasters. As a result, the mobile financial services … Continue reading →
Telefónica and MasterCard dance to the beat of Samba
November 24, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Latin America and the Caribbean
Earlier this year, Telefonica announced it was working with MasterCard to provide mobile financial services to its 87 million customers across 12 Latin American markets. Today, the first of these partnerships comes into being with the formal announcement of the … Continue reading →
The Advent of Mobile Financial Services in Agriculture
November 15, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
As the global population continues to grow – it is expected to reach more than 9 billion by 2050. It will require a 70% increase in food production above current levels. Most of this increased yield will have to be … Continue reading →
GSMA announces keynote speakers for MWC 2012
November 8, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
The GSMA today announced that executives from ARM, Best Buy, China Mobile, Citigroup, ISIS, Juniper Networks, Sprint and VimpelCom will be speaking in the keynote programme at the GSMA Mobile World Congress, which will be held 27th February – 1stMarch … Continue reading →
On Channels
November 7, 2011 | Neil Davidson | Global
The mobile financial service value chain can be disaggregated in a variety of different ways, giving rise to an interesting range of business models. This is good for customers and for the variety of players that seek to play a … Continue reading →
Why do mobile money agents get paid less than airtime retailers?
November 1, 2011 | Neil Davidson | Global
In most markets, if you compare the margin that retailers earn from selling prepaid airtime to the commissions that mobile money agents earn buying or selling e-money, you will find that the former is almost always higher than the latter. … Continue reading →
Delivering Hope with Mobile Money in Tanzania
October 21, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Sub-Saharan Africa
Mobile phones have been pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in developing countries for quite some time. From remote villages, farmers can access real time crop prices and new mothers can receive neonatal advice over SMS. Since 2009, Vodacom M-PESA … Continue reading →
Fast Times in the Western Hemisphere
October 19, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Latin America and the Caribbean
These are interesting times in the Latin American region. Below are some of the latest headlines and highlights: On the regulatory front, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Bolivia have introduced regulation for the provision of mobile financial services paving the way for … Continue reading →
GPF 2011 ends successfully with the signing of the Maya Declaration on Financial Inclusion
October 6, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
The Global Policy Forum (GPF) 2011– held in Rivera Maya, Mexico–ended successfully with the signing of the Maya Declaration on Financial Inclusion. Members of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion reaffirmed the urgency and importance of financial inclusion and announced a … Continue reading →
Informal Pension Schemes powered by Mobile Money
October 4, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Sub-Saharan Africa
Paying into a pension plan is an important part of financial planning for any of us. In developing countries where social safety nets are less developed, and in some cases do not exist, mobile money can be used as a … Continue reading →
FrontlineSMS:Credit: Targeting MFIs and SMEs to maximise the social impact of mobile money
September 28, 2011 | Claire Penicaud | Global
We’ve written previously in our blog about the intersection of mobile money and Microfinance and about innovative microfinance products riding on the rails of mobile money. Last week, Nathan Wyeth, Project Director of FrontlineSMS:Credit, visited our office to tell us … Continue reading →
Innovation in mobile money distribution: real-time electronic reporting on agent performance
September 21, 2011 | Neil Davidson | Sub-Saharan Africa
Mobile money platforms that rely on networks of cash-in/cash-out agents to take in and pay out cash need that network to be healthy in order to offer customers a compelling value proposition. The lynchpin of channel health is liquidity, but … Continue reading →
Risk-sharing effects of Mobile Money
September 19, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Sub-Saharan Africa
Informal networks in developing countries provide an important means by which individuals and households share risk. However, this coverage is not always 100% comprehensive. Economists find that one of the reasons why this happens is transaction costs. Literally, the costs … Continue reading →
Free money transfers in Kenya
September 9, 2011 | Neil Davidson | Sub-Saharan Africa
One of my first posts for this blog explored how mobile operators could exploit the network effects that characterize mobile money services by “subsidizing” early adopters—that is, by rewarding those who sign up and use a service early with deep … Continue reading →
Next: Mobile Savings for the Unbanked
September 7, 2011 | Ignacio Mas | Global
The following is a guest post we’re pleased to share by Ignacio Mas, consultant associated with Bankable Frontier Mobile money providers are increasingly pondering the path from payments to savings. If people were comfortable keeping higher e-money balances it would … Continue reading →
Innovation in mobile money distribution: TigoPesa’s roving agents
August 31, 2011 | Neil Davidson | Sub-Saharan Africa
As I discussed in a recent blog post, what makes the economics of mobile money so different from the economics of traditional banking is the reduction in costs for cash in, cash out, and transaction processing. The lower these costs … Continue reading →
Regulating non-bank mobile money service providers
August 25, 2011 | Neil Davidson | Global
It is no longer the case that Kenya is the only market where mobile money is scaling fast. In two neighbouring countries, Uganda and Tanzania, mobile money is now reaching millions of customers. Two services in particular have grown particularly … Continue reading →
New guidance from FATF on AML/CFT and financial inclusion
August 24, 2011 | Neil Davidson | Global
Last month the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released a guidance paper on anti-money laundering and terrorist financing measures (AML/CFT) and financial inclusion. This is good news for mobile money because it offers national financial services regulators, who establish the … Continue reading →
Bank branches: not a cost-effective gateway to financial inclusion
August 22, 2011 | Neil Davidson | Global
Getting cash into and out of banks is expensive. Last year, Clara Veniard at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation wrote up the results of a costing exercise conducted with seven service providers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to … Continue reading →
IADB launches Spanish language blog on mobile financial services
August 19, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Latin America and the Caribbean
The (IDB) Inter-American Development Bank TEC-IN programme in partnership with MMU is launching today a Spanish language blog. http://blog.tec-in.org/ This new blog aims to inform and educate audiences in the Latin-American region about the potential of new technologies for financial … Continue reading →
Financial inclusion: not just about bank accounts anymore
August 18, 2011 | Neil Davidson | Sub-Saharan Africa
Central banks that seek to promote financial inclusion often have an explicit goal to increase the number of customers (or rural customers, or poor customers) that have bank account. It’s easy to understand this policy aim. After all, bank accounts … Continue reading →
Mobile Money Donations for Drought Victims in East Africa
August 12, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Sub-Saharan Africa
The vast arid plains of northern Kenya, central Somalia and eastern Ethiopia are suffering one of the worst droughts seen in recent times. Rain has not fallen in some of these areas for over a year and this has gradually … Continue reading →
Ensuring Quality Customer Experiences at Agents Part 2
August 9, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Sub-Saharan Africa
This is the second part of the video from MMU’s session on Quality Assurance at the agent Level. in this part, Jennifer Barassa, CEO of Top Image answers questions from the audience regarding the role Top Image plays in M-PESA’s … Continue reading →
Ensuring Quality Customer Experiences at Agents Part 1
August 5, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Sub-Saharan Africa
In these two videos filmed during the last MMU working Group in Singapore, we explore the role that Top Image, a below-the-line field marketing agency, has played in developing and maintaining Safaricom’s successful M-PESA agent network. Top Image performs several … Continue reading →
Barriers to Customer Activation: A case study from MTN Uganda
August 3, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Sub-Saharan Africa
Driving customer activation has become one of the prominent challenges facing mobile money programmes. In this video filmed last month during MMU’s Working Group in Singapore, Yasmina McCarty discusses the key challenges that operators have faced when it comes to … Continue reading →
ZONG launches Pakistan’s first Accidental m-Insurance
July 29, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
In the past, we have discussed the potential of new delivery channels to help bring insurance products to the BOP. MNOs have large physical and virtual networks with the potential to reach significant numbers of clients at low cost. On … Continue reading →
On Harnessing the Power of Financial Inclusion: The Case of Mobile Payments
July 26, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
The development of information and communications technology has opened up the opportunity for providing essential financial services to most people. As we often write in this blog, many mobile money and branchless banking schemes are currently being launched or expanded … Continue reading →
Mobile payments in the Philippines: Future Opportunities for Growth
July 21, 2011 | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | East Asia and Pacific
The following is a guest post we’re pleased to share by Salah Goss and Clara Veniard from the FSP program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation We often hear that M-PESA was able to scale quickly because it targeted … Continue reading →
GSMA Publish Case Study on ‘Giros Tigo’ in Paraguay
July 19, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Latin America and the Caribbean
Today GSMA is publishing a case study on ‘Giros Tigo’, Tigo’s mobile money service in Paraguay. With over 100 live deployments around the world, Mobile Money continues to emerge as a must-have service for operators in emerging markets. However, there … Continue reading →
MMU Working Group Presentations – MMS Singapore
July 18, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
The MMU team is pleased to share the proceedings from our last working group held on June 27th in Singapore. We have attached the presentations and descriptions from the various sessions and will be posting some videos over the … Continue reading →
GSMA Publish 2011 MMU Annual Report
July 10, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
Over the last 12 months, the mobile money industry has doubled in size; and as the industry has grown, so has our understanding of what it takes to create a successful deployment. This 2011 report contains a selection of important … Continue reading →
2011 MMU Leadership Forum – Promoting Dialogue between Financial Regulators and MNOs
July 1, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
The MMU Leadership Forum took place on Thursday, a day after the conclusion of the GSMA Mobile Money Summit in Singapore. Building on the success of last year’s event, this invitation-only, closed door forum allowed decision makers from financial regulatory … Continue reading →
MMU Working Group at MMS Singapore 2011
June 29, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
Yesterday, the city of Singapore was the host of the 7th Mobile Money for the Unbanked Working Group at the GSMA’s Mobile Money Summit. Over 100 participants from various organizations including MNOs, Banks, and donor agencies discussed the latest happenings … Continue reading →
Telefonica Plans Mobile Money Push in LAC
June 28, 2011 | Mobile Business Briefing | Latin America and the Caribbean
Live from GSMA Mobile Money Summit in Singapore. Telefonica has vowed to learn the lessons from the early mobile money schemes in Asia and Africa as it begins its rollout of mobile financial services across Latin America. Speaking at the GSMA’s Mobile … Continue reading →
Exploring Usage of Mobile Money in Uganda
June 17, 2011 | Claire Penicaud | Sub-Saharan Africa
A recent study conducted by researchers from Uganda and Sweden[1], attempts to identify new ways of using mobile money to help the poor. The team studied mobile money users across three MNOs in Uganda: MTN’s MobileMoney, Uganda Telecom’s M-Sente, and … Continue reading →
GSMA Announces mFarmer Initiative Fund
June 9, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
mAgri Programme Aims to Benefit 2 Million Farmers in Developing Countries by 2013 The GSMA announced at the inaugural mAgri Working Group in Cape Town, the launch of the mFarmer Initiative Fund, supported by a grant from the Bill & … Continue reading →
MoMo, a new Mobile Money offering in Vietnam
June 6, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | East Asia and Pacific
With Mobile Money Summit being hosted in Singapore in a couple of weeks, we are taking an in depth look at the status of mobile money in the South East Asian region. In this post, we focus on Vietnam, one … Continue reading →
Domestic remittance flows having a positive impact on liquidity management in Paraguay
June 2, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Latin America and the Caribbean
Even though there has been a notable absence of mobile money programs in Latin America, 2011 seems to finally be the year when a number of MNOs in both Central and South America are readying for launches. In an upcoming … Continue reading →
Safaricom – 56% Growth in M-PESA revenue
May 31, 2011 | Claire Penicaud | Sub-Saharan Africa
Last week, Safaricom announced its annual results[1]. It has confirmed an increased turnover (+12.9% to Ksh. 94.83bn). However, after several years of sustained growth, Safaricom experienced a 12.4% drop in profits before tax due to increased competition. Nevertheless, a more … Continue reading →
Interview with Esther Duflo, co-author of “Poor Economics” Part 2.
May 25, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
In light of the recent publication of “Poor Economics”, the new book by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, MMU caught up with Dr. Duflo to discuss some relevant themes to help our readers understand the broader impact of mobile … Continue reading →
Interview with Dr. Esther Duflo, co-author of “Poor Economics”
May 24, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
In light of the recent publication of “Poor Economics”, the new book by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, MMU caught up with Dr. Duflo to discuss some relevant themes to help our readers understand the broader impact of mobile … Continue reading →
GSMA Announces Speakers for Mobile Money Summit 2011 in Singapore
May 17, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
Industry executives highlight the rising power of mobile money The GSMA today announced speakers for the GSMA Mobile Money Summit 2011, which will be held 27-30 June at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore. The agenda features thought-leading conference … Continue reading →
MMU Deployment Tracker reaches 100 live deployments
May 16, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
The GSMA Mobile Money for the Unbanked programme (MMU) was launched to accelerate the availability of mobile money services to the unbanked and those living on less than US$2 per day. Supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda … Continue reading →
AFI & G24 promote financial inclusion during World Bank Spring Meetings
May 6, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
With the purpose of promoting financial inclusion among G24 member countries and other emerging economies, The Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) and the G24 held the Third Annual G24/AFI Roundtable on Financial Inclusion Policy last month in Washington D.C Governor … Continue reading →
IMTFI publish final report on mobile money in Haiti
May 5, 2011 | IMTFI | Latin America and the Caribbean
In November 2010, Digicel and Voilá both made mobile money services publicly available in Haiti. This final report published by The Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion at UC Irvine presents an analysis of how the new mobile money … Continue reading →
Globe G-Cash and UN World Food Programme Making A Difference
April 18, 2011 | Maha Khan | East Asia and Pacific
The World Food Programme (WFP) Philippines, in partnership with Globe G-Cash, piloted a [1] disbursement for typhoon victims last year, ending December 2010. We’ve asked previously whether the mobile money platform is an efficient mechanism of distributing aid. A visit … Continue reading →
World Bank Group Publishes: Protecting Mobile Money Against Financial Crimes
April 13, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
The World Bank Group recently released a new book entitled “Protecting mobile money Against Financial Crimes: Global Policy Challenges and Solutions.” The book is a guide to preserving the integrity of mobile banking, which is revolutionizing the way financial services … Continue reading →
Resisting the Devil: Using Mobile Money in Haiti
April 8, 2011 | IMTFI | Latin America and the Caribbean
The following is a guest post we’re pleased to share by Dr. Espelencia Baptiste from the Haitian mobile money Blog at the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion (IMTFI) As I boarded a plane bound for Haiti in December … Continue reading →
Networks Want to Connect
March 31, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
A couple of weeks ago, Ignacio Mas from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation wrote a guest post on the topic of interoperability of mobile money. At this year’s Mobile Money for the Unbanked Working Group in Barcelona, he also … Continue reading →
Small Business Might Be Big Business for Mobile Money
March 28, 2011 | Jake Kendall | Global
The following is a guest post we’re pleased to share by Jake Kendall from the FSP program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Next Billion. Mobile money is usually marketed as a way for workers in urban settings … Continue reading →
mi-Life, Mobile Microinsurance in Ghana
March 23, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Sub-Saharan Africa
MTN Ghana, Hollard Insurance, MicroEnsure, and MFS Africa have launched today an innovative mobile money insurance product called “mi-Life” We have written previously how insurance designed to serve low-income clients is an effective tool in poverty alleviation, as it gives … Continue reading →
Tigo Money Launches in Central America
March 21, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Latin America and the Caribbean
Last month, Tigo Money launched in Guatemala and Honduras. The MMU team had a chance to catch up with Juan Carlos Arriaga, Head of Mobile Financial Services in Guatemala to discuss about their new product and the challenges and opportunities … Continue reading →
World Economic Forum launches 2011 MFS Development Report
March 18, 2011 | World Economic Forum | Global
The following is a guest post we’re pleased to share by William Hoffman and Sjoerd Nikkelen from the World Economic Forum. Today we launched the Mobile Financial Services Development Report 2011. Providing an analysis of more than 100 variables across … Continue reading →
Interview with Evelyn Stark on the Importance of Marketing Mobile Money
March 18, 2011 | Camilo Tellez | Global
We recently published a guide to driving customer usage of mobile money for the unbanked. In this guide, The MMU team highlighted the key challenges that operators have faced when it comes to customer activation for mobile money and identifies … Continue reading →
Three Enemies and a Silver Bullet
March 9, 2011 | Ignacio Mas | Global
The following is a guest post we’re pleased to share by Ignacio Mas, Deputy Director from the FSP program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At the MMU working group in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago, Seema joked … Continue reading →
PlaNet Finance and Oliver Wyman publish report on mobile microfinance
March 7, 2011 | Camilo Tellez
PlaNet Finance and Oliver Wyman launch a report of mobile microfinance during Mobile World Congress 2011. The report, “Beyond Payments – Next Generation Mobile Banking for the Masses” is the result of a joint effort and was funded by the … Continue reading →
The Rising Power of Mobile Money: Mobile Money Summit 2011 Singapore, 27-30th June
March 3, 2011 | Camilo Tellez
As the mobile money industry continues to grow, this has lead to increased access to financial services as well as the development of new financial instruments around the world. Now, more than ever before, Mobile Money products and services are … Continue reading →
MMU Releases Report on Driving Customer Usage of Mobile Money for the Unbanked
February 28, 2011 | Neil Davidson
Last week at its Working Group at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Mobile Money for the Unbanked programme released a new article on marketing mobile money. With nearly 100 mobile money services now deployed, the industry is increasingly focused … Continue reading →
The MMU blog has a makeover
February 25, 2011 | Camilo Tellez
The MMU site re-launches with a user-friendly & improved design. We want to make it easier for you to get a quick overview of the trending issues within mobile money, in addition to accessing the latest publications, blogs and insight. … Continue reading →
We want to hear about your success
February 23, 2011 | Mireya Almazan
The following is a guest post we’re pleased to share by Mireya Almazan, Associate Program Officer and Ignacio Mas, Deputy Director from the FSP program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. What are you doing to help poor people … Continue reading →
Summary and Presentations from the 6th MMU Working Group
February 22, 2011 | Camilo Tellez
The MMU team is pleased to share the proceedings from our last working group held on February 16th in Barcelona during the 2011 Mobile World Congress. We have attached the presentations and highlights from the various sessions. In addition, we … Continue reading →
Preview of 6th MMU working group at Mobile World Congress 2011
February 15, 2011 | Camilo Tellez
Barcelona is buzzing at the moment with the inauguration of the 2011 Mobile World Congress. The MMU team is very excited to share with the industry and our partners our latest research and insights on mobile money for the unbanked. … Continue reading →
Complimentary Public Policy Goals: Financial Inclusion and Financial Integrity
February 13, 2011 | Marina Solin
The globally acknowledged standard setting body for anti-money laundering and the fight against terrorist financing, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has only recently [1] acknowledged that financial inclusion and financial integrity (i.e. the prevention of money laundering and terrorist … Continue reading →
GSMA Hosts Webinar on Mobile Money Pricing and Commissions – Part 2 TBD
February 1, 2011 | Camilo Tellez
This is the second part of the GSMA webinar on the topic of mobile money pricing and commisions . This interactive session was designed to help mobile money practitioners capture best practices from deployments around the world. In this post, … Continue reading →
GSMA Hosts Webinar on Mobile Money Pricing and Commissions – Part 1
February 1, 2011 | Camilo Tellez
On December 14th, the MMU programme at the GSMA hosted a webinar on the topic of mobile money pricing and commissions. This interactive session was designed to help mobile money practitioners capture best practices from deployments around the world. In … Continue reading →
Operator-bank partnerships: a case study featuring Safaricom and Equity Bank – Part 2
January 28, 2011 | Camilo Tellez
At the recent MMU working group in Kuala Lumpur, John Staley, director of shared services at Equity Bank, and Waceke Mbugua, head of M-PESA marketing, shared with the group how they worked together to forge M-KESHO. This is the second … Continue reading →
Operator-bank partnerships: a case study featuring Safaricom and Equity Bank – Part 1
January 26, 2011 | Neil Davidson
At the end of “Mapping and Effectively Structuring Operator-Bank Relationships to Offer mobile money for the Unbanked,” we include a case study that traces the history of Safaricom’s engagement with banks in Kenya as M-PESA evolved. In the early days, … Continue reading →
Bank-led or operator-led? Sometimes, it’s in the eye of the beholder
January 24, 2011 | Neil Davidson
Banks and operators have come together in a wide variety of configurations in order to offer mobile money for the unbanked. In our research for “Mapping and Effectively Structuring Operator-Bank Relationships to Offer Mobile Money for the Unbanked” we found … Continue reading →
Mobile Money in Tanzania: Is it reaching the BOP?
January 21, 2011 | David Montez
The following is a guest post we’re pleased to share by David Montez, Research Analyst with InterMedia’s AudienceScapes project. Mobile money in Kenya, led by Safaricom’s pioneering M-PESA product, has set a standard of success and reach by which deployments … Continue reading →
Are relationships between banks and operators to offer mobile money for the unbanked real partnerships?
January 19, 2011 | Neil Davidson
At the 2010 Leadership Forum for mobile network operators and financial regulators in Rio de Janeiro, one attendee made a provocative suggestion during a discussion about operator-bank partnerships: “The premise of partnership is a premise. A bank could just be … Continue reading →
The Mobile Money for the Unbanked Value Chain
January 17, 2011 | Neil Davidson
The heart of the new MMU article “Mapping and Effectively Structuring Operator-Bank Relationships to Offer Mobile Money for the Unbanked” is an inventory of all of the activities that must be performed in order to offer mobile money for the … Continue reading →
MMU Lance ses Publications en Français
January 14, 2011 | Camilo Tellez
Le programme « MMU: Mobile Money for the Unbanked » (en Français « argent mobile destiné aux personnes non bancarisées ») du GSMA a pour objectif d’accélérer l’accès aux services d’argent mobile des personnes non bancarisées. Nous cherchons à rassembler les opérateurs de … Continue reading →
Citi Global Transaction Services and the GSMA Hosted Mobile Money Policy Forum in Kenya
January 12, 2011 | Camilo Tellez
Citi Global Transaction Services and the GSMA hosted a conference in Nairobi in December titled “ Mobile Money Policy Forum: Partnerships for Financial Inclusion in Africa”. The two-day event was designed to discuss regulatory frameworks to enable mobile commerce in … Continue reading →
A new MMU article on the relationships between banks and mobile operators
January 10, 2011 | Neil Davidson
Offering a mobile money service for the unbanked requires the participation of both a bank and a mobile operator. That means these two parties need to align on what parts of the mobile money value chain each will carry out, … Continue reading →
2010, a Year in Review
January 7, 2011 | Camilo Tellez
Please find below some of the highlights from the MMU Blog in 2010 1. MMU Launches Mobile Money Deployment Tracker MMU launched in January the GSMA Mobile Money Deployment Tracker. This interactive tool was designed to track the number of … Continue reading →
Sharing the pain, sharing the cash merchants
December 20, 2010 | Guest Blogger
The following is a guest post we’re pleased to share by Mireya Almazan, Associate Program Officer and Ignacio Mas, Deputy Director from the FSP program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Building and managing a cash merchant network is … Continue reading →
Building Peace: One Mobile at a Time
December 9, 2010 | Maha Khan
There is a lot of optimism about the use of mobiles in the peace-building sector and in particular mobile money bringing financial services to the poor. While there is widespread reach of mobile phones in post-conflict countries—Afghanistan has 13 million … Continue reading →
Getting the word out: The Global Savings Forum and new research from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
December 7, 2010 | Guest Blogger
The following is a guest post we’re pleased to share by Ignacio Mas and Sheila Miller from the FSP program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Financial Services for the Poor team at the Bill & Melinda Gates … Continue reading →
Microfinance 2.0
November 26, 2010 | Camilo Tellez
Earlier this year, we discussed the potential of the intersection of microfinance and mobile money. Microfinance is the provision of financial services to the unbanked and can include access to credit and savings services as well as more advanced products … Continue reading →
The Impact of Taxes on Mobile Growth
November 19, 2010 | Camilo Tellez
The GSMA has commissioned Frontier Economics to undertake a report examining the impact of mobile air time taxes in East Africa. It builds upon a previous report from 2007, and aims to analyse the impact of lowering and removing mobile … Continue reading →
The State of Mobile Money in Latin America: An Interview with YellowPepper
November 16, 2010 | Camilo Tellez
Founded in 2004, YellowPepper is a provider of mobile financial services in Latin America. More than 2 million customers in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Haiti and Panama use YellowPepper technology to access their bank accounts using their … Continue reading →
What operational metrics should an MNO monitor and manage?
November 11, 2010 | Paul Leishman
Before a mobile money service can turn a profit, it must first be operationally healthy. This may sound obvious (okay, it definitely sounds obvious), but today many mobile money practitioners are unable to report with clarity whether their service is … Continue reading →
Is SIM Registration a backtrack on tiered KYC?
November 10, 2010 | Andrew Zerzan
When we write about ID requirements, we cover financial regulator’s often overly burdensome Know-Your-Customer (KYC – regulations that force financial institutions to verify a person’s identity with a passport or ID card). A new trend is emerging in telecom regulations … Continue reading →
The adoption and impact of M-PESA: a first look at some new data
October 29, 2010 | Billy Jack and Tavneet Suri
The following is a guest post we’re pleased to share by Billy Jack from Georgetown University’s Economics Department and Tavneet Suri from MIT’s Sloan School of Management The diffusion of M-PESA in the Kenyan economy has been rapid and deep. … Continue reading →
How can MNOs ensure their tariff and commission models are well designed?
October 28, 2010 | Paul Leishman
Note: For more information on pricing and commissions, please join Neil Davidson and Paul Leishman for a Webinar on December 14th at 9:00am BST. To register for this webinar, please email mmu@gsm.org For a mobile money service to scale and … Continue reading →
E-Money Regulation that is Enabling: News from the UK
October 27, 2010 | Andrew Zerzan
Exciting changes are underway in the European Union. European governments are developing laws and regulations to promote the use of non-bank accounts (i.e. e-money). This is good news for mobile money. The UK, for example, is now consulting the public … Continue reading →
Mobile Money: The Global Perspective
October 26, 2010 | Camilo Tellez
In this video from Mobile World Live, various experts from the mobile money ecosystem including Zahir Khoja from Roshan, Aletha Ling from Fundamo, and Mark Pickens from CGAP share their insights on recent developments in the industry.
How can an MNO manage costs to achieve profitability?
October 21, 2010 | Paul Leishman
When most people hear the phrase “to turn a profit, we need to manage our costs”, they usually take it to mean “to turn a profit, we need to reduceour costs”. But when it comes to mobile money, practitioners have … Continue reading →
Helping Haiti: an Interview with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
October 20, 2010 | Maha Khan
Since we last wrote about the potential of using mobile money to deliver humanitarian assistance in Pakistan, Digicel and Voila have announced in September their intention to enter the Haiti Mobile Money Initiative (HMMI) Competition. The HMMI is a partnership … Continue reading →
MMU Working Group Presentations – Kuala Lumpur
October 19, 2010 | Camilo Tellez
The MMU team is pleased to share the proceedings from our last working group held on October 5th and 6th in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We have attached the presentations and descriptions from the various sessions. In addition, we will be … Continue reading →
How Significant are Direct Revenues to Profitability?
October 18, 2010 | Paul Leishman
So far on this blog, we’ve written about the role that indirect benefits play in enabling a mobile network operator (MNO) to turn a profit from a mobile money service – but what about the most obvious source of value, … Continue reading →
How Significant is ARPU Uplift to Profitability?
October 14, 2010 | Paul Leishman
In my last post, I wrote about the significance of churn reduction benefits to the profitability case for mobile money; and when people talk about indirect benefits, ‘reduction in churn’ is usually closely followed in the same sentence by ‘uplift … Continue reading →
How significant are churn reduction benefits to profitability?
October 11, 2010 | Paul Leishman
If you’ve ever attended a mobile money conference, you’ve likely heard a speaker tout the potential benefit of ‘reduced churn’ that mobile money can unlock for an MNO. But what you probably haven’t heard is whether any service has actually … Continue reading →
MMU Working Group, Kuala Lumpur: Summary of Day 2
October 6, 2010 | Camilo Tellez
We have wrapped up the second and final day of panels and interactive discussions at the MMU Kuala Lumpur working group where one the key themes was how to successfully market mobile money. We also discussed bill payments, international remittances … Continue reading →
How Significant are Airtime Distribution Savings to Profitability?
October 6, 2010 | Paul Leishman
One of the most important sources of value for mobile network operators (MNOs) who offer mobile money services is the ability to sell airtime using the platform. When a customer buys airtime using mobile money rather than with scratch cards, … Continue reading →
MMU Working Group – Kuala Lumpur: Summary of Day 1
October 5, 2010 | Seema Desai
We’ve had a superb first day at the 5th MMU Working Group here in Kuala Lumpur. Here are some of the highlights from the presentations and discussions:- Is there money in mobile money? Yes there is. MMU unveiled some of … Continue reading →
How much must an MNO invest in mobile money before turning a profit?
October 5, 2010 | Paul Leishman
In my last post I began to describe MTN Uganda’s MobileMoney, a service that has turned an exciting corner into cash-flow positive territory. But the CFO of any mobile network operator (MNO) knows that simply getting out of the red … Continue reading →
Is There Really Any Money in Mobile Money?
October 4, 2010 | Paul Leishman
From Afghanistan to Zambia, mobile network operators (MNOs) in developing countries are launching mobile money services at a rapid pace. Yet while their enthusiasm to enter this business is clear – to date 83 deployments have been launched and another … Continue reading →
Scaling Mobile Money
September 28, 2010 | Camilo Tellez
Today, we’re sharing “Scaling Mobile Money” a new article by Dan Radcliffe and Ignacio Mas from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This article provides their perspective on one of the many challenges that arise when scaling up a mobile … Continue reading →
Innovation in Health Microinsurance and Savings
September 28, 2010 | Camilo Tellez
Juliet Agutu, a domestic worker in Nairobi recently delivered her first child at Pumwani, the country’s largest maternal hospital. Like many mothers-to-be in the developing world, Juliet was worried about not having the appropriate medical facilities or the money to … Continue reading →
Mobile Money Launches in Central Africa: An Interview with MTN Cameroon
September 26, 2010 | Camilo Tellez
In February 2010, GSMA hosted the Central African Mobile Money Roundtable. The Focus of this event was to share information and experiences regulating mobile money with the Banque des États de l’Afrique centrale (BEAC), which is the financial services regulator for … Continue reading →
One step forward as RBI awards semi-closed mobile wallet license
September 23, 2010 | Camilo Tellez
This week, the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Mr. K C Chakrabarty announced that RBI was granting the first license for a semi closed Bharti Airtel. The news comes just weeks after RBI announced at its annual … Continue reading →
What Regulators Really Want – When Applying for a License
September 21, 2010 | Andrew Zerzan
Over the past few weeks we have been looking into different countries’ regulatory practices for e-money issuers. E-money is what is stored in customer and agent wallets in mobile money services around the world. Given the lower risk that e-money … Continue reading →
MMU announces 5th Working Group in Kuala Lumpur
September 20, 2010 | Maha Khan
Mobile operators will descend on the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the 5th MMU Working Group taking place during the 5th and 6th of October. Following the success of Mobile Money Summit in Rio, we will be sharing our … Continue reading →
Segunda Entrega de Publicaciones en Español de MMU
September 17, 2010 | Camilo Tellez
Hoy es la segunda entrega de publicaciones en español del programa MMU y nos enfocaremos en la parte comercial: Primero que todo tenemos la guia sobre redes de agentes. Construir, Incentivar y Administrar una Red de Agentes de Dinero Móvil: … Continue reading →
MMU Lanza Publicaciones en Español Sobre el Dinero Móvil
September 16, 2010 | Camilo Tellez
Hoy, América Latina y el Caribe muestran avances prometedores. La penetración móvil está llegando al 100% en muchos de nuestros países y el crecimiento económico ha superado significativamente los promedios históricos. Sostener el progreso dependerá en gran parte de la … Continue reading →
Mobile Money and the Demand for Banking
September 6, 2010 | Neil Davidson
“Are banks dead?” asked Gavin Krugel at this year’s Mobile Money Summit. Variations of this question been posed by provocateurs in the mobile money world for years. Is it possible that mobile money services will solve so many of its … Continue reading →
Regulating New Banking Models that can Bring Financial Services to All
September 2, 2010 | Andrew Zerzan
Our team often writes on this blog about the role of mobile network operators (MNOs) in providing mobile financial services. But what about the role of banks? Are they to be replaced by MNOs and their branches discarded? No, says … Continue reading →
Will Mobile Money Bring Microinsurance to the Poor?
August 31, 2010 | Camilo Tellez
Matu Onyango is a farmer in the region of Nanyuki, 250 km north of Nairobi. His family’s welfare depends solely on the income derived from maize crops. During the last drought that afflicted the region, not only did his crop … Continue reading →
Can Pakistan’s flood victims find hope in mobile money?
August 26, 2010 | Maha Khan
Pakistan is facing an enormous humanitarian crisis in the aftermath of the country’s worst flooding in its history—indeed, a crisis in terms of victims that is now larger than the last three devastating natural disasters combined (the Asian Tsunami, the … Continue reading →
Getting the Agent Commission Model Right
August 20, 2010 | Paul Leishman
By now, most mobile money practitioners recognize that for a service to succeed, the agents that support it need to be making money. In recent months, we’ve written about how mobile network operators have carefully managed their customer/ agent ratios … Continue reading →