Preread!!!
The economic gap (especially the racial wealth gap in the US) has only widened in the past ten years at an accelerated pace, now they are selling us this bullshit that if we all have a convenient tracking leash we will bridge the gap and enable the poor (who have no bank accounts) to borrow money from the assholes who print it. Wow. The BBC is also the one pushing the notion that these things are entirely safe to use, when a recent study has demonstrated otherwise. Get those free laptops and vaccines out pronto!!! Bankers depend on it!
From the BBC
Mobile banking has transformed the way people in the developing world transfer money and now it is poised to offer more sophisticated banking services which could make a real difference to people's lives.
Currently 2.7bn people living in the developing world do not have access to any sort of financial service. At the same time 1bn people throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia own a mobile phone.
As a result, mobile money services are springing up all over the developing world. According to mobile industry group the GSMA there are now 65 mobile money systems operating around the globe, with a further 82 about to be launched.
Most offer basic services such as money transfers, which are incredibly important for migrant workers who need to send cash back to their families.
M-Pesa in Kenya is perhaps the most famous of these and it has attracted 9.4 million Kenyans in just under three years.
Now it is ready to move to the next stage. M-Pesa, has recently partnered with Kenya's Equity Bank to offer subscribers a savings account, called M-Kesho.
Money MattersIt means their M-Pesa accounts will no longer be just about money transfer. Instead, they will become virtual bank accounts, allowing customers to open saving accounts, earn interest on their money and access credit and insurance products.
It is an extension to an earlier agreement with Equity Bank to allow M-Pesa customers to access their funds at ATMs around the country.
CGAP, a financial think tank based at the World Bank, was at the launch of M-Kesho.
"Kenya is sending a message to the world: poor people want savings accounts. Mobile banking is a powerful way to deliver savings services to the billion people worldwide who have a cell phone but not a bank account," said CGAP chief executive Alexia Latortue.
Kenya is sending a message to the world: poor people want savings accounts.
Alexia LatortueChief executive, CGAPMeanwhile in Uganda, MTN, a mobile firm that runs a similar mobile money service has ratcheted up 890,000 users in its first year of operation. This is double what it forecast.
Richard Mwami, head of mobile money at MTN predicts the service will have 2m users by the end of the year, and 3.5m by 2012.
He admits that one of the biggest challenges of setting up the system was regulating the agents that provide the cash.
"We have had liquidity problems where customers walk into the shop and there is no money," he said.
Read more
The economic gap (especially the racial wealth gap in the US) has only widened in the past ten years at an accelerated pace, now they are selling us this bullshit that if we all have a convenient tracking leash we will bridge the gap and enable the poor (who have no bank accounts) to borrow money from the assholes who print it. Wow. The BBC is also the one pushing the notion that these things are entirely safe to use, when a recent study has demonstrated otherwise. Get those free laptops and vaccines out pronto!!! Bankers depend on it!
From the BBC
Mobile banking has transformed the way people in the developing world transfer money and now it is poised to offer more sophisticated banking services which could make a real difference to people's lives.
Currently 2.7bn people living in the developing world do not have access to any sort of financial service. At the same time 1bn people throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia own a mobile phone.
As a result, mobile money services are springing up all over the developing world. According to mobile industry group the GSMA there are now 65 mobile money systems operating around the globe, with a further 82 about to be launched.
Most offer basic services such as money transfers, which are incredibly important for migrant workers who need to send cash back to their families.
M-Pesa in Kenya is perhaps the most famous of these and it has attracted 9.4 million Kenyans in just under three years.
Now it is ready to move to the next stage. M-Pesa, has recently partnered with Kenya's Equity Bank to offer subscribers a savings account, called M-Kesho.
Money MattersIt means their M-Pesa accounts will no longer be just about money transfer. Instead, they will become virtual bank accounts, allowing customers to open saving accounts, earn interest on their money and access credit and insurance products.
It is an extension to an earlier agreement with Equity Bank to allow M-Pesa customers to access their funds at ATMs around the country.
CGAP, a financial think tank based at the World Bank, was at the launch of M-Kesho.
"Kenya is sending a message to the world: poor people want savings accounts. Mobile banking is a powerful way to deliver savings services to the billion people worldwide who have a cell phone but not a bank account," said CGAP chief executive Alexia Latortue.
Kenya is sending a message to the world: poor people want savings accounts.
Alexia LatortueChief executive, CGAPMeanwhile in Uganda, MTN, a mobile firm that runs a similar mobile money service has ratcheted up 890,000 users in its first year of operation. This is double what it forecast.
Richard Mwami, head of mobile money at MTN predicts the service will have 2m users by the end of the year, and 3.5m by 2012.
He admits that one of the biggest challenges of setting up the system was regulating the agents that provide the cash.
"We have had liquidity problems where customers walk into the shop and there is no money," he said.
Read more
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