Mobile phone banking

This includes policies that lower transaction costs and increase access to financial services through mobile technologies, including those facilitating cash deposits and withdrawals, third-party deposits into user accounts, retail purchases, over-the-air prepaid top-ups using cash in user accounts, transfer of cash or airtime credits between accounts, and bill payments.

While Japan and Korea account for most users of mobile financial services, there are over 4 million users in the Philippines. Two main providers, Smart and Globe Communication, have introduced m-wallets allowing users to pay bills, transfer money or make purchases using their mobile phones, with international remittances playing an important part.

The dramatic growth of mobile phone subscribers in emerging markets opens up new delivery channels for financial services, especially payments, remittances and savings. M-banking offers great potential as a low-cost, accessible transaction platform; however, as most models are quite recent, their impact on poor customers is not yet known. M-banking also places high demands on regulatory capacity, as it cuts across regulatory domains, such as banking, telecommunications, payment systems and anti-money laundering. This highlights the need to ensure a conducive regulatory environment which mitigates risks while allowing for innovation.