MTN, GSMA AND OTHERS TO PILOT MOBILE MONEY TRANSFER

The MTN Group has announced its participation in the GSM Association (GSMA) pilot programme, which is aimed at enabling the world's 200m international migrant workers to easily and securely send money to dependents in their home countries.

By exploiting the extensive reach of the mobile networks, the programme will complement existing local remittances channels and make transferring money internationally significantly more affordable.

Spearheaded by a special group of MTN and 18 other mobile operators with networks in over 100 countries, and representing over 600m customers, the programme could double the number of recipients of international remittances to more than 1,5bn. In addition, it could assist in quadrupling the size of the international remittances market to more than $1 trillion by 2012.

To combine the strengths of the mobile and financial ecosystems, the GSMA is setting up a pilot with Mastercard. The GSMA and Mastercard plan to pilot a global hub that will link together national markets and the local payment systems run by mobile operators in partnership with the local banks. The hub will enable migrant workers to initiate international money transfers using mobile phones, and their families will be notified via their mobile phones.

International remittances, which total more than $230bn a year, are already a major source of income for many developing countries, and a very important factor in their economic development.

Says Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA: “The creation of a global hub will enable the mobile networks, which now cover more than 80% of the world’s population, to offer the world’s burgeoning migrant population a convenient way to securely and cost-effectively transfer money to their home countries, We are mobilising financial services for the billions of people who are un-banked and the under-banked.”

ICT World