Philippine Rural Banks’ Mobile Phone Banking experiences shared at the MMT Summit in Dubai

October 28, 2009 By cbalingit Leave a Comment

Taking part in the international mobile money technology (MMT) scene, MABS presented alongside other mobile phone banking leaders on how mobile money works on the “front lines” of microfinance at the 2009 Mobile Money Technology Global Summit held in Dubai on October 26-27. MABS Chief of Party John Owens shared the experience of rural banks in the Philippines who are effectively using mobile money transfer to expand outreach to more than 330 experts and leaders in the mobile money industry who participated in the summit.

Presenting with him in a panel discussion on how mobile money works on the ‘front lines’ of microfinance were Musoni’s Africa Implementation Team Manager Cameron Goldie-Scot, Aikku’s Microfinance Specialist Philippe Breul, and Utiba’s Product and Marketing Director Ritesh Andley.  They presented on the operational and cultural impact of mobile phone banking on existing practices of MFIs, MMT as a tool to increase productivity and reduce operational costs, and how MMT affects the lives of microentrepreneurs in Africa, India and the Philippines. Read more…

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2nd Annual MMT Global Summit to Highlight Rural Banks using GCASH

October 23, 2009 By cbalingit Leave a Comment

The 2nd annual Mobile Money Transfer Global Summit will be held in Dubai from October 25-28, 2009 following its hugely successful launch last year. MMT 09 features a combination of visionary case studies from the Philippines and other countries especially on providing an innovative platform for microfinance institutions and banks to reach out to the unbanked and underbanked clients.

This year’s event will feature the work of USAID-supported RBAP-MABS program and the rural banks that have partnered with GXI to make use of GCASH to facilitate mobile phone banking as well as presentations by Smart Money.

The MMT 09 will provides practical “how to” advice on a number of key topics – from the fundamentals of the business model to the realities of establishing an agency network and acquiring and retaining customers, to the ever-present regulatory and technical questions. Speakers at MMT 09 have genuine ‘hands on’ experience of planning, piloting and launching MMT programmes and will share advice of the design and roll out of mobile money propositions.

Enter MMT 09 Global Summit site

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Mobile phone banking moves one notch higher

October 20, 2009 By cbalingit Leave a Comment

Philippine Star – The Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) program is taking mobile banking to the next level in its continued bid to bring credit closer to the un-banked and under-banked.

The Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are the key supporters of the MABS program.

MABS chief of party John Owens admitted that they have several mobile banking products already being pilot tested with several rural banks.

“It has to do with smart money and mobile phone technology,” Owens said, promising to release more information as the pilot testing period.

Industry sources said that rural banks are working on expanding its mobile banking capabilities and its network.

“Anyone with a phone can start trading through the BA electronic money resources, and we have 170,000 clients registered with the banks that can withdraw money up to a maximum of P100,000 a month,”  they said.

They said that the RBAP and MABS are presently talking with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on using electronic shops (e-shops). Read the rest of the article on PhilStar.com

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