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As promised, here is the video and presentation from today’s webinar that Kabir Kumar and Ignacio Mas lead, based on their recent paper: Banking on Mobiles: Why, How, for Whom?

Thanks to all of you who joined us in person or online.

Presentation: CGAP Mobile Banking Webinar (881kb pdf)

Video: CGAP Mobile Banking Webinar (requires RealPlayer)

Background
The promise of mobile banking is well known; harder to find are examples of solid implementation and mass roll out beyond payments and transfers. In Banking on Mobiles: Why, How, for Whom? CGAP examines the business case and deployment options for smaller banks and microfinance institutions. With effective partnerships and technical choices (which affect customer uptake), we believe there is a strong market opportunity to reach poor people with a broad range of financial services.

Mobile banking has gotten more than its fair share of adulatory press coverage this year. Most exciting perhaps was April’s Sunday New York Times magazine piece that looked at the broader opportunities of mobile phones and development through the lens of the work of Jan Chipchase of Nokia fame. Last week we saw the Financial Times consider the state of microfinance with a nod towards how mobile phones could reduce transaction costs and increase the reach of financial services.

This topic is only getting more interesting. Last week I had the opportunity to speak via videolink to a conference in Brazil on how the web could revolutionize - or is revolutionizing - life in developing countries - via cell phones. That was a great conversation, organized by our friends at the World Bank and linked up to the Workshop on the Role of Mobile Technologies in Fostering Social Development, organized by the people who brought you those three w’s in your web browser, W3C.

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