Mobile Phone Banking Blog

Strengthening Mobile Phone Banking Services for the Rural Sector

Globe Telecom’s mobile commerce subsidiary, G-Xchange, Inc. (GXI), joined the National Convention of the Rural Banking Association of the Philippines (RBAP) to recognize its top 10 rural bank partners in cooperation with Microenterprise Access to Banking Services Program (MABS) supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). RBAP-MABS has been instrumental in giving clients of rural banks long-term solutions to accessing financial services including mobile banking through GCASH.

The 10 GCASH awardees: Philippine Rural Banking Corporation, Green Bank, Cantilan Bank, GM Bank, 1st Valley Bank, Agribusiness Bank, Bangko Kabayan, Rang-Ay Bank, Card Bank and New Rural Bank of Victorias.

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cbalingit :: Jun.03.2010 :: Globe press releases :: No Comments »

The Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) through its USAID-supported Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) Program will now receive support from Microfinance Opportunities (MFO) and The MasterCard Foundation to assist the expansion of mobile phone banking services via increased financial education for customers and clients of rural banks.

Rural Bank Mobile Phone Banking Services Set to Expand in the Philippines

There are already 900 accredited rural bank branches and sub-offices offering mobile phone banking services via the GCASH platform, benefiting 122,000 rural bank clients. More than PhP six billion (US $130 million) in mobile phone banking transactions have been processed by these rural banks and the volume of transactions is increasing.

Through this partnership, RBAP-MABS will further accelerate this growth by renewing the educational campaign for its mobile phone banking initiative. RBAP-MABS will leverage its partnerships with rural banks, Globe and its gateway SMS service provider to develop an improved m-banking toolkit for rural banks officers and staff, their merchant partners and their clients. This toolkit will include instructional videos, web-based distance learning tools and mobile banking guides for improving customer education. RBAP-MABS intends for these materials to be publicly available online, transferrable to and among mobile phones, and deliverable through Internet applications and channels.

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cbalingit :: May.28.2010 :: News Features :: No Comments »

cbalingit :: May.19.2010 :: MABS highlights :: No Comments »

Philippine Star – The New Rural Bank of Victorias together with G-XChange, Inc. (GXI), a wholly-owned mobile commerce subsidiary of Globe Telecom, bring the benefits of mobile banking services to communities in Visayas benefiting individuals like Ate Evelyn.

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cbalingit :: May.13.2010 :: Globe press releases :: No Comments »

Computer World — As the texting capital of the world averaging more than two billion text messages a day, the Philippines is predicted to become the leader in mobile commerce.

John Owens, a well-known microfinance expert who serves as chief of party to Microenterprise Access to Banking Services, said with around 76 million mobile phone subscriptions in the Philippines, it is more than double than all the country’s bank accounts of 33 to 34 million. He said that potentially today people can be provided with financial services just by using the phone.

“Mobile commerce reaches all levels of society. From those who are considered the unbank (people with no bank accounts), to rural household where the whole infrastructures putting ATMs, and physical bank networks won’t reach — the mobile phone does,” Owens said, adding there are tremendous opportunities being seen worldwide about the growth of the mobile commerce industry, especially MMS (multimedia messaging service) which is now reaching almost half of the globe’s population.

Read the complete article on IDG News online.

cbalingit :: Apr.19.2010 :: News :: 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 »

RBAP-MABS Chief of Party will chair and open the 3rd Mobile Commerce Summit Asia on Wednesday March 24 at the Crown Plaza Galleria in Ortigas City.  The Summit will include bankers, mobile network operators, mobile commerce providers, and third-party solutions providers who will share the futuristic exploration of next generation mobile commerce services in Asia.  Mobile commerce is already a multi-billion dollar industry that is set to expand exponential in the coming decade.

The Philippines is the perfect location to host this event as it is home to Globe and Smart Telecommunications, two of the leading pioneers in mobile money and mobile commerce in the world.  The conference will focus on the growth of mobile commerce, mobile payments and near field communication focus streams, the importance of partnerships and collaboration, creating new dimensions for mobile commerce and overcoming challenges, and mobile money transfer and mobile banking services. In line with the mission of providing a worthy experience to all participants of 3rd Mobile Commerce Summit Asia in the Philippines, RBAP along with PR Bank, one of the leading rural banks and enabler of mobile financial services via GCASH, will be conducting a study tour that will feature the real scenario on how mobile money and mobile banking.  The study tour will end with a visit to Greenhills Shopping Center to introduce participants to mobile commerce services being used by small merchants in the Philippines.

cbalingit :: Mar.23.2010 :: 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 »

cbalingit :: Mar.18.2010 :: trainings & workshops :: No Comments »

Philippine Star - The Philippines is recognized among the leaders in developing mobile banking for the unbanked. Mobile banking utilizes the mobile phone to extend banking services such as deposits, withdrawals including remittances or money transfer, bills payments, and loan payments.

Telecommunications companies (telcos), such as Smart Communications (Smart) and Globe Telecommunications (Globe), were one of the first worldwide to start mobile money. Smart started in 2001 through Smart Money, and Globe followed soon after in 2004 with GCash.

But one of the leaders in terms of reach and number of subscribers is M-PESA of Kenya. It has 8.6 millions active users or 25 percent of the country’s population, and monthly person-to-person transactions worth over $320 million with average of $37 per user per month.

The telcos have put up systems that cater to the average bank users to the poorer segment of society that do not have banking relationships often referred to as the unbanked, as well as the under-banked that undertake limited banking services. READ MORE>>

cbalingit :: Mar.09.2010 :: News :: No Comments »