RBAP-MABS & Rural Banks highlighted at the MMT Asia-Pacific Conference 2011

January 21, 2011 By 1 Comment

Having pioneered mobile phone banking and being noted as one of the world’s leaders in mobile money, the Philippines hosted the Mobile Money Transfer Asia Pacific Conference (MMT-APAC) on January 17-20 at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in Manila. This is the second of Clarion Events’ MMT-APAC series, which started in December 2009.

Panel on the mobile phone banking initiative of RBAP-MABS and the rural banks

Panel on the mobile phone banking initiative of RBAP-MABS and the rural banks

Gathering the world’s mobile money industry leaders, mobile network operators, financial institutions, regulators and m-commerce practitioners, the conference featured presentations on the latest trends, updates and developments in mobile money from all over the world. Highlighted during the event were the mobile phone banking and mobile money transfer experiences of the Philippine rural banks presented by Bangko Kabayan’s Ms. Fides Ganzon, Cantilan Bank’s Gen. Charles Hotchkiss (Ret.), and RBAP-MABS Chief of Party John Owens.

While mobile phone banking remains a successful and steadily growing industry in the country, there still are a lot of things that can be done in order to further strengthen, improve and expand this service. Mr. Hotchkiss noted that mobile issuers and banks utilizing these platforms to promote access to banking services have to work hard in order to achieve critical mass in building a mobile money ecosystem.
Ms. Ganzon shared that the best strat egy for offering mobile money is to ensure that the bank’s own staff are the first to use the service via mobile money payroll. Not only does this create an initial sure clientele, it also allows the bank staff to become familiar with the features of the mobile phone banking services, thus making it easier for them to explain the technology and encourage bank clients to use the service as well. Cantilan Bank was among the pilot banks of the USAID-supported RBAP-MABS’ mobile phone banking initiative which started in 2005-2006. Both Cantilan Bank and Bangko Kabayan learned the lesson early on about ensuring employees understand the system by offering the Text-a-Sweldo service (sending salaries to employees’ mobile wallets via GCASH). The banks also offered this service to other companies in their respective markets. According to Ms. Ganzon, mobile money offered their bank a great way to meet rural payroll demands of their larger bank clients. She also said that the ideal market for mobile money payroll are companies with employees who are scattered or based in rural areas. However, she stressed that promoting this payroll system to clients requires banks to ensure that there is an adequate cash-out network in place.

While mobile phone banking remains a successful and steadily growing industry in the country, there still are a lot of things that can be done in order to further strengthen, improve and expand this service. Mr. Hotchkiss noted that mobile issuers and banks utilizing these platforms to promote access to banking services have to work hard in order to achieve critical mass in building a mobile money ecosystem. [Read more...]

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GCASH and RBAP’s mobile phone banking initiative – finalist for this year’s MMT Awards

October 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) Awards, the world’s first mobile money awards, recently announced the finalists for this year’s awarding ceremonies. Among them were Globe’s GCASH and its partnership with the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) in providing mobile phone banking services to thousands of low income households in the Philippines.
Four finalists for each of the MMT Award’s six categories were chosen from several entries from all over the world. The GCASH-RBAP partnership was shortlisted for the “Achievement in Financial Inclusion” category, which recognizes an MMT service provider (operator, bank or microfinance institution) that has made a real difference to the unbanked in its country of operation, bringing about tangible social and economic improvement. Among the other finalists in this category were Safaricom – M-PESA, EKO Financial Services, and the EasyPaisa – Telenor & Tameer Bank partnership. GCASH was also named as finalist for the “Best IMT Programme” category. The other categories were “Best MMT Entrant of the Year”, “Best Bank-led MMT Project”, “Best Operator-led MMT Project”, and “Most Inventive Marketing Campaign”.
The awarding will be held during the upcoming MMT Global Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on October 24-27. It will be another big gathering of MMT practitioners from all over the world, like the Asia-Pacific Conference held in Manila last December and the MMT Summit held in Dubai in October last year.

Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) Awards, the world’s first mobile money awards, recently announced the finalists for this year’s awarding ceremonies. Among them were Globe’s GCASH and its partnership with the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) in providing mobile phone banking services to thousands of low income households in the Philippines.

Four finalists for each of the MMT Award’s six categories were chosen from several entries from all over the world. The GCASH-RBAP partnership was shortlisted for the “Achievement in Financial Inclusion” category, which recognizes an MMT service provider (operator, bank or microfinance institution) that has made a real difference to the unbanked in its country of operation, bringing about tangible social and economic improvement. Among the other finalists in this category were Safaricom – M-PESA, EKO Financial Services, and the EasyPaisa – Telenor & Tameer Bank partnership. GCASH was also named as finalist for the “Best IMT Programme” category. The other categories were “Best MMT Entrant of the Year”, “Best Bank-led MMT Project”, “Best Operator-led MMT Project”, and “Most Inventive Marketing Campaign”.

The awarding will be held during the upcoming MMT Global Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on October 24-27. It will be another big gathering of MMT practitioners from all over the world, like the Asia-Pacific Conference held in Manila last December and the MMT Summit held in Dubai in October last year.

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MABS hosts Mobile Money Transfer Asia-Pacific Conference

December 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Owing to its exemplary performance and remarkable success as mobile commerce pioneer and leader, the Philippines hosted the first Mobile Money Transfer Asia Pacific Conference (MMT-APAC) On December 7-9, 2009 put on by Clarion Events. Held at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Manila, the conference gathered some of the most important mobile money industry leaders, mobile network operators, financial institutions and regulators from all over the world. Following a tradition of successful MMT conferences in different parts of the world, the MMT-APAC hosted 166 participants and featured presentations from respected industry leaders. [Read more...]

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Philippines Takes Center Stage Hosting International Mobile Money Transfer Conference

November 13, 2009 By 2 Comments
The Philippines has the “most acclaimed and mature” mobile money programs in the world; thus, there could be no better place in the world to hold a conference of international mobile money technology (MMT) leaders. This was according to the organizers of the Asia Pacific Mobile Money Transfer Conference to be held in Manila this December.
The world’s pioneer in mobile phone banking, the Philippines has one of the most organized, sophisticated and successful mobile money systems in the world. With over PhP 13 Billion worth of mobile money transactions each month, the Philippines exhibits outstanding performance in terms of effective use of mobile phones, mobile money and mobile phone banking services.
Through the years, MMT has been revolutionizing the flow and management of money worldwide, giving new definitions to bills payment, management of payrolls, and person-to-person mobile money transfers. Experts forecast that by 2013, mobile money will be worth about $ 202 billion, of which 60% will be from the Asia-Pacific and Far East regions.
In the Philippines, mobile money technology has allowed the unbanked sector to have convenient and affordable access to banks’ financial services. Industry leaders estimate that about 364 million more people in the developing world without access to financial services will be using mobile money and mobile phone banking services by 2012. With the high cost of transportation and traditional money-sending, mobile money provides an excellent alternative to the Philippines’ money-sending (and receiving) population.
The Philippines, through telecommunication giant Smart Communications and its Smart Money platform, has been using mobile money for over ten years—one of the longest running in the world.  This was followed in 2004 by Globe Telecom’s GCASH platform.
From its inception, the country’s mobile money industry continues to enjoy extensive growth in the number of users and mobile money transactions, thanks in part to the rural banking industry. Initiated by the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) Program supported by USAID/Philippines, the work on mobile phone banking services for rural banks and their customers began in the Philippines by utilizing the GCASH platform back in 2004. Through this technology, rural bank clients have been able to convert cash into mobile money and conduct transactions like deposits, withdrawals, remittances, bill payments, loan payments, and salary administration simply through SMS (short message service) or text messaging. Accredited rural banks are already serving over 100,000 mobile phone banking clients using GCASH and are currently pilot testing the use of Smart Money Services.
Based on the Philippines’ success as a pioneer and leader in the mobile money industry, the first ever MMT Conference and Expo for Asia and the Pacific will be held in Manila on December 8 and 9 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. The MMT Asia Pacific Conference will gather some of the most important mobile money industry leaders from various countries, along with banks, mobile network operators, and regulators.  The MMT Asia-Pacific (MMT) Conference and Expo follows a tradition of MMT conferences, including the first MMT Summit held in Dubai in 2008, which hosted over 270 delegates from 44 countries around the world. MMT Africa was another such event, which gathered more than 250 project leaders, as well as the 2nd MMT Summit held in Dubai on October 26 and 27, 2009 which hosted more than 270 senior-level delegates.
The MMT Asia Pacific conference will feature presentations from leaders in mobile money, mobile technology and finance institutions, including Abhishek Sinha, CEO and co-founder of Indian financial service provider, EKO; Gregg Marshall, senior vice president of Singapore-based mobile wallet developer, Utiba; Bin Zhang, general manager of China Mobile and China UnionPay joint venture, Union Mobile Pay; Naushad Contractor, Marketing Mobile Commerce Head of Indian cellular operator, Vodafone Essay; and Reyhan, Head of Commerce at Indonesian cellular telecommunications company, Telkomsel. One of the key presenters would be Carol Realini, CEO of Obopay–world leader in global mobile payments and financial services based in the United States.
The conference will also host other leaders in the MMT industry, including the M-Pesa Head Pauline Vaughan, Citi Head of e-business Melissa Henson, Smart Communications President and CEO Napoleon Nazareno, Globe Telecom President Ernest Cu, President and CEO of Globe Telecom, Group Head, Financial Services, Smart Communications, Jojo Malolos, and G-Xchange Inc. President Rizza Maniego-Eala among others.
For more on the upcoming conference, visit http://www.mobile-money-transfer.com/apac or contact MABS Chief of Party John Owens at j.owens@yahoo.com or Sonum Puri (event organizer) at Sonum.Puri@clarionevents.com.

The Philippines has the “most acclaimed and mature” mobile money programs in the world; thus, there could be no better place in the world to hold a conference of international mobile money technology (MMT) leaders. This was according to the organizers of the Asia Pacific Mobile Money Transfer Conference to be held in Manila this December.

The world’s pioneer in mobile phone banking, the Philippines has one of the most organized, sophisticated and successful mobile money systems in the world. With over PhP 13 Billion worth of mobile money transactions each month, the Philippines exhibits outstanding performance in terms of effective use of mobile phones, mobile money and mobile phone banking services. [Read more...]

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Mobile money transactions may reach $202 billion in Asia-Pacific, Far East

November 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The Philippine Star – It is estimated that by 2013, mobile money will be worth about $202 billion, of which 60 percent will be from the Asia-Pacific and Far East regions.

In the Philippines alone, a whopping P13-billion per month worth of mobile money transactions were recorded.

“It exhibits outstanding performance in terms of effective use of mobile phones, mobile money and mobile phone banking services,” organizers of the Asia Pacific Mobile Money Transfer Conference said in a report.

Proponents of mobile money transactions in the region will be holding an international mobile money technology (MMT) in Manila next month.

Read the rest of the article on PHILIPPINE STAR online.

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