MEF Americas 2011: Using mobile to help the ‘unbanked’

 

Whilst at MEF Americas 2011 I was amazed to hear the statistic that around 60 million US citizens are ‘unbanked’… that is ‘without a bank account’. I was aware that many in developing economies chose not to or were unable to access banking services, but author Gary Schwartz explained it was also a widespread – and under reported –  issue in the US.

Some – a minority he suggested – choose to avoid the banking system for political reasons but for the remainder the inability to perform cash-less transactions was a source of misery as payments required them to visit service providers or to pay higher charges (such as for utility bills). Gary explained that increasingly mobile devices were being seen as a way to store value and a potential way for even those without bank accounts to perform electronic transactions.

In the video Gary summarises the panel discussion and highlights some broader changes mobile is having on the way consumers interact and buy with mobile. SMS and mobile web – he argues – should be the ‘dominant’ channels because they are so widely used (and loved) by consumers.

Recently Published

Question: When is the only time a traffic jam is good news in the UK?

Answer: When you're sitting in the back of an Uber and you need reliable mobile signal. Boom! Sad, isn't it, dear reader? Travel all around...

Ah yes, an S23 with a BlackBerry Bold Keyboard: Exactly what I (think) I need

I was playing with Midjourney, the AI/photo generation service and I asked it to show me what a Samsung S23 would look like with...

It’s ok, your moon photos aren’t fake, they are just enhanced – quite a bit

Have you taken a photo of the moon recently? I almost did, the other day, when I spotted a fabulous moment here in Dubai....

Don’t move! You’ll jinx it! This looks like a tiny bit of innovation in the mobile world

It has been quite a while since I’ve seen anything in the mobile industry that’s caused me to want to write much. Just look...

The new BlackBerry movie trailer is here

Were you a BlackBerry fan? Of course you were. At some point, almost everyone was. I still remember the days and the joy that...

Airalo: The easy way to roam globally with a data eSIM

Shortly before I began my FinTech & Banking Tour around the GCC, I popped into the Apple AppStore and searched ‘eSim’. I wondered if...