Undoubtedly the mobile phone has been the catalyst for a technological revolution in the 21st century. The mobile phone has given companies a platform to access billions of customers and users online, breaking down economic and geographic barriers that previously prevented large portions of the population from enjoying bank or bank-like services to aid their business or personal financial needs.
One of the biggest areas of transformation that the mobile phone has facilitated is in finance and banking. Finance and access to banking is a key determinant of standard of living with huge portions of people in third world and developing countries living without basic access to banking and financial services. The mobile phone has helped banking and finance companies expand their reach into these areas.
Mobile and the Banking Revolution
Banking has been revolutionized worldwide as mobile adoption rates boom, leading to a huge shift in focus towards online banking and away from branch based transnational activity. The move towards a cashless society has been enabled by the mobile phone. In fact, China now leads the world in online transaction conducted through mobile phones. 65 percent of Chinese mobile users choose to use their phone as a mobile wallet. That is almost half a billion people making everyday transactions in store and online with their phones and not cash. Ecommerce companies in China are also now leaders in approving finance to users based on their mobile transaction history.
-MFIs and the Mobile Phone
Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) have provided an avenue for lower socioeconomic groups and people living in regional areas to gain access to financial services such as loans, repayments and deposits. The mobile phone has enabled people to apply for finance over the phone through institutions such as MFIs, which also free them to make repayments at branch level or through third party agents. . read more here: http://www.sharone-microfinance.com/blog/smartphones-changed-world-finance-banking/
