The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is contributing $12.5 million to fund projects worldwide that help poor people who have no access to banking services nonetheless make financial transactions using their cell phones.
According to this story:
The GSM Association, which represents 750 mobile phone networks in the world, said a grant … would help fund 20 initiatives in Asia, Africa and South America. Money transfer via mobile phone is seen as a potential area of growth for network operators in developing countries, where millions are without access to the banking system.
“There’s 1.7 billion people in the emerging markets who don’t have a bank account but do have a mobile phone, so they could use their mobile phone to conduct financial transactions,” explained Michael O’Hara, marketing director or the GSMA. …
“The foundation believes that setting aside small sums in a safe place allows people to guard against risks and build financial security,” said spokeswoman Susan Byrnes in a statement received by AFP in Washington.
Regular readers know that I am not personally anxious to make financial transactions using my cell phone, but that doesn’t mean I would begrudge the capability to anyone else. However, my questions about what’s being done here went unanswered in the story: If these people do not have bank accounts, from where are they transferring the funds? And, what is the “safe place” into which those funds are being transferred?
