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Exactly

telefonos moviles — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:01:55 -0500

This is exactly what I was thinking as I read the article. This is something that I would never have thought they had access too...

Phone Banking

NK — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:55:39 -0500

With the estimation of 2.5 billion people in developing countries expected to be mobile phone customers in 5 years. This technology has tremendous potential to improve the business interactions in the developing world. Not only will it help the BoP, it will add numerous new customers to cell phone companies. If security can be enhanced, which I believe it will, billions of the BoP will have access to services that will help their struggle out of poverty. I am extremely excited to see when this project will actually be implemented and its results. Lets face it, the BoP cannot pull itself out of poverty only through micro-lending and these financial services are needed. They will allow faster transactions, the less need for money, and the ability for checking and savings accounts to be established.

Phone Banking

TechMode — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:28:58 -0500

I find it surprising that Africa and the Phillipines have this type of access to phone banking. The bureaucratic nightmare of the west always hinders it to work in the best interests of society.

New Report: How to Make Mobile Phone Banking Secure

Al Hammond — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:54:05 -0500

Mobile phone banking is already fully commercial in the Philippines, South Africa, and Kenya. It's about to happen in perhaps a dozen additional countries. With more than 1.5 billion mobile phones deployed in the developing world, the potential market is large and growing. The need is equally apparent-most of the BOP have no access to modern financial services, despite the success of microfinance.

So what is keeping this from becoming a revolution in financial services for the poor? In a word, regulatory hesitation. Central banks-and behind them, the U.S. Treasury-want to be sure that the democratization of financial services does not also lead to widespread money laundering and consumer fraud. And a key part of current security systems-the SIM card that gives each phone a unique ID-is device-based and potentially hackable.

Today we report new research that assesses the potential of biometric security systems-user-based, not device-based-for mobile phones. It turns out there is an obvious candidate, and that phones with this technology are already in commercial production.

I won't give away the story-read the report, Biometric Security for Mobile Banking-but the cost of including this technology in low-cost GSM or CDMA phones appears to be low, well within the buying power of most of the BOP. The report also places this new capability in the context of broader technology trends that could extend the reach of mobile phones-and mobile banking-into rural areas.

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