Mobile Phone Banking Blog

Leaders from the mobile phone industry and rural banking met on June 3 to discuss new developments in mobile phone banking during the 2010 RBAP-MABS National Roundtable Conference in Manila.

Mr. Jaime Fraginal Jr., Head of Sales of G-Xchange, Inc. – a wholly owned subsidiary of Globe Telecom – first presented GCASH Remit, an instant cash pick-up service for domestic and international remittances.   This convenient service, accessible through 18,000 partners across the country (including 3,000 partners from the rural banking network), has low remittance charges for the sender and is free of charge for the beneficiaries.  Because there is no third party handling the cash and it requires a PIN number from the beneficiary, GCASH Remit is safe and secure.

By building the infrastructure to increase the flow of money throughout the nation, GCASH Remit looks to play a significant part in the development of the Philippine countryside as another remittance opportunity for accredited rural banks.

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cbalingit :: Jun.30.2010 :: MABS tips, conferences & dialogues :: No Comments »

Several technological developments for support and expansion of microfinance services were presented during the 2010 RBAP-MABS National Roundtable Conference held in Manila on June 2-3, 2010.

Ms. Rebecca Hughes, Philippines Country Director of Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), first introduced a credit scoring model and automated loan application process via netbooks.  The new loan application process via netbooks allows loan Account Officers to quickly and easily upload and prepare loan applications from the field.  In addition, IPA has also added a credit scoring system into the application to better predict the borrower’s likelihood of repayment based on certain indicators such as the borrower’s background, cash flow, debt capacity and past repayment patterns of comparable borrowers. For the staff and clients, the netbooks help speed up the processing of loan applications in the field.

While Ms. Hughes cautioned that not every bank will be able to implement the credit scoring system overnight, all banks can benefit from the automated loan applications via netbooks.  This can also provide banks with the first step in collecting data that can one day be utilized by the bank to implement a credit scoring system.

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cbalingit :: Jun.29.2010 :: MABS tips, conferences & dialogues :: No Comments »

By: Eric Miller, guest blogger

The first panel discussion of the RBAP-MABS National Roundtable Conference, moderated by MABS Chief of Party John Owens, addressed the current trends and challenges in the microfinance industry. Topics ranged from market issues, competition, the regulatory environment and branchless banking.

Ms. Pia Roman-Tayag, the Inclusive Finance Advocacy Staff Head of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), kicked off the panel discussion with a look into the regulatory environment. She began by emphasizing that policy and regulations are not the answer, but they provide the enabling environment and support for the market-based solutions of microfinance. To address the risks of limited technical know-how, inadequate risk management practices and governance issues of the early microfinance era, the BSP set regulations to require banks to develop adequate methodologies, risk management systems and comprehensive governance standards.

Ms. Roman Tayag noted that the current microfinance era has seen a mainstreaming of the industry with commercial investors, new products, technological innovation and a move towards financial inclusion. The current challenges for the banks include the need to find greater efficiencies, become more transparent and develop effective credit underwriting standards. For microfinance clients, she noted that financial literacy and the awareness of consumer rights and redress mechanisms are most important. To meet these new challenges, the BSP must be responsive, especially in light of the new definition of microfinance as addressed earlier in the Governor’s speech. Additionally, BSP will review consumer protection regulations, take action against financial crime and over-indebtedness, and advocate for financial literacy.

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cbalingit :: Jun.10.2010 :: MABS tips, conferences & dialogues :: No Comments »

Close to a hundred stakeholders and leaders of the Asian mobile commerce industry – bankers, mobile network operators, mobile commerce providers, and third-party solutions providers – attended the 3^rd Mobile Commerce Summit Asia. The Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines-Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (RBAP-MABS) Program Chief of Party, Mr. John Owens, chaired the opening session of the two-day conference held on March 24-25 at the Crowne Plaza in Manila.

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cbalingit :: Mar.27.2010 :: conferences & dialogues, events :: No Comments »

Taking its part in the promotion of effective use of modern technology in microfinance, MABS shared its mobile phone banking experiences during the M-Commerce World Summit 2010 held on March 17-18 in Singapore.

The summit covered mobile money transfer & mobile money remittance, mobile payment and NFC technologies, mobile banking, banking the unbanked & microfinance services, and mobile marketing and advertising. It has highly regarded expert speakers and panelist representing M-Commerce Ecosystem from Europe, Africa, Asia and the United States – including Philippines from Globe/GXI and the Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) Program.

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cbalingit :: Mar.19.2010 :: conferences & dialogues, events :: No Comments »

After the Mobile Money Transfer Asia-PacificConference (MMT-APAC) held on December 7-9 held in Manila, USAID-MABS and MicroSave conducted an M-Banking dialogue at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Manila on December 9 and 10. Selected microfinance practioners, networks including MicroSave, MABS, Mercy Corps, MICRA and ACCION, donor-supported efforts including USAID and IFC, various third party providers including EKO from India, and Mobile Money Issuers including Safaricom’s M-PESA and Globe X-Change Inc (GXI/GCASH) participated in the dialogue. Read the rest of this entry »

cbalingit :: Dec.11.2009 :: conferences & dialogues :: No Comments »

Owing to its exemplary performance and remarkable success as mobile commerce pioneer and leader, the Philippines hosted the first Mobile Money Transfer Asia Pacific Conference (MMT-APAC) On December 7-9, 2009 put on by Clarion Events. Held at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Manila, the conference gathered some of the most important mobile money industry leaders, mobile network operators, financial institutions and regulators from all over the world. Following a tradition of successful MMT conferences in different parts of the world, the MMT-APAC hosted 166 participants and featured presentations from respected industry leaders.

During the pre-conference workshop held on December 7, mPay Connect Inc. Director Menekse Gencer provided and introduction of mobile money transfer, while Amarante Consulting Director and former M-Paisa Product Director Aiaze Mitha presented steps, tips and guidelines on how to talk with regulators regarding MMT issues, regulations and operations. Meanwhile, Utiba Senior Vice President Gregg Marshall gave a presentation that oriented the participants on approaching payment cultures in different countries based on Utiba’s experiences. Read the rest of the article.

cbalingit :: Dec.10.2009 :: conferences & dialogues, events :: No Comments »

The Philippines has the “most acclaimed and mature” mobile money programs in the world; thus, there could be no better place in the world to hold a conference of international mobile money technology (MMT) leaders. This was according to the organizers of the Asia Pacific Mobile Money Transfer Conference to be held in Manila this December.

The world’s pioneer in mobile phone banking, the Philippines has one of the most organized, sophisticated and successful mobile money systems in the world. With over PhP 13 Billion worth of mobile money transactions each month, the Philippines exhibits outstanding performance in terms of effective use of mobile phones, mobile money and mobile phone banking services. Read more »

cbalingit :: Nov.13.2009 :: MABS reports & updates, conferences & dialogues, events :: No Comments »

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…

cbalingit :: Oct.28.2009 :: conferences & dialogues, events :: No Comments »

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

cbalingit :: Oct.23.2009 :: conferences & dialogues, events :: No Comments »