Valuable Bits

Nich Huges from Vodafone talked about M-PESA and his experiences from launching the service in Kenya. The main message was that is important to make these kinds of services as simple as possible. In the beginning of M-PESA they considered a lot more functionality in the system, group lending and more. But later they choose [...]

The autumn always brings a lot of interesting conferences and meetings. Here are a couple of them in Sweden that we will attend.

NFC - proximity magic in everyday life
21 October, Kista Stockholm
Nordic Telecom Summit 2008
22 – 23 October, Bonnier Conference Center, Torsgatan 21, Stockholm
Mobile Summit
28-29 October, Berns, Stockholm
Nordic Mobile Payments Forum
9 [...]

In these days when we are in the middle of a financial crisis it becomes evident how deeply connected the worlds economies are, with financial institutions borrowing money cross countries and continents. But there is also a strong economic connection cross countries with the 150 million migrant workers who are sending money to people in [...]

Mobile banking is often set-up in a different way in each country where it is introduced. The technology adapts to specific social, political and geographical conditions, and the extent of these differences can be more or less significant.

If it has been inexpensive to send text messages in a country, then it is likely that the banking on [...]

Just in time is a economic strategy for reducing in-process inventory and its associated carrying costs. It was first used by the Ford Motor Company but most famously implemented by Toyota who really took the strategy to heart. Toyota managed to drastically reduce the amount of money tied up in materials and create a more [...]

Hannes van Rensburg summarizes the new guidelines on mobile banking from Indian Central bank. And sadly it is a quite depressing reading. It doesn’t seam as though they have learnt from other countries endeavours.
Here’s some of the point that Rensburg highlights:

A very low limit on how much money that can be sent at a [...]

Yesterday CGAP held a webcast, or webinar, based on their previous publication: Banking on Mobiles: Why, How, for Whom?
CGAP is an initiative by the World Bank with the purpose of “advancing financial access for the world’s poor”. It is the world’s leading resource of research in financial services in developing areas, often exploring the [...]

We have now had several meetings with actors and stakeholders interested in the development of mobile banking and payment services in Scandinavia. It is becoming clear that it is the banks that are the most cautious ones to try out and implement new services.
This isn’t all that strange, considering the demand for security and stability [...]