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The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a private sector
arm of the World Bank Group, is promoting mobile phone banking for
people who lack access to banks to make financial transactions.
A. Bido Budiman, IFC associate operation officer for advisory services,
told The Jakarta Post last Friday the so-called transformational mobile
phone banking would make it possible for people without bank accounts
to make transfers from phone to phone, to load cell phone airtime
credits and to send or receive remittances locally and internationally,
all by means of text messages.
"This is different from mobile banking services that are available at
major banks where people must first have bank accounts," he said.
He said many people in rural areas did not have accounts in banks with
large networks for reasons of demographic and financial difficulties,
while many others had accounts only in small banks or Bank Perkreditan
Rakyat (People's Credit Bank), which do not have ATMs, he said.
"Based on our initial research, only 40 million people currently have
banking accounts as compared to 80 million people who have mobile phone
subscriptions out of the country's total population of 230 million
people."
He said IFC would conduct a study next month to gauge market acceptance
of the phone banking idea.
"IFC will support the partnership between banks and telecommunication
operators and/or third parties who will execute this program by
providing experts in mobile phone banking and investment," he said,
adding IFC could just become a sub-investor.
"What is more important (is that) we need supporting regulation from
the government to turn this idea into reality," he said.
The IFC in December held a seminar for representatives from banks,
telecommunication operators and the government to hear about mobile
phone banking and some of its success stories in the Philippines and
South Africa.
He said users of G-Cash, a mobile phone banking service of Globe
Telecom in the Philippines, for example, just needed to register their
mobile phone numbers and identities and then pay a small sum to open a
phone banking account.
He said regulations in that country permitted people to have a wallet
limit of US$230 and a daily transaction limit of $930.
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