World Bank thinktank The
Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) has called on telecom
operators based in emerging markets to team up with the banking
sector to offer savings products in addition to existing
remittances services.
Research undertaken for CGAP concluded that
Safaricom’s trailblazing M-Pesa service was being used by customers
for savings highlighting a need for such a scheme, but as Safaricom
is not registered as a financial service provider, providing
interest on savings is not currently an option.
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A separate report from CGAP and mobile
telecoms trade body the GSM Association (GSMA) noted that more poor
people now have mobile phones than bank accounts – one billion more
rising to 1.7 billion by 2012.
But in an upbeat assessment, charitable
organisation The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which donated
$12.5 million to the GSMA Mobile Money for the Unbanked initiative,
said 364 million currently unbanked people will be accessing
financial services such as savings, loans, payments and insurance
by 2012.
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