Global Money Transfer Pilot Uses Mobile to Benefit Migrant Workers and the Unbanked

Global Money Transfer Pilot Uses Mobile to Benefit Migrant Workers and the Unbanked

February 12, 2007

- GSMA and MasterCard Piloting a Programme to Make it far
Easier and Cost-Effective to Transfer Remittances Globally
      

    BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 12 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The
GSM Association has launched a pilot programme aimed at
tapping the ubiquity and ease-of-use of mobile
communications to enable the world's 200 million
international migrant workers to easily and securely send
remittances to their dependents, many of whom don't have
bank accounts. By exploiting the extensive reach of the
mobile networks, the programme will complement existing
local remittances channels and make transferring money
internationally significantly more affordable.

    Spearheaded by a special group of 19 mobile operators
with networks in over 100 countries and representing over
600 million customers, the GSMA believes the programme
could double the number of recipients of international
remittances to more than 1.5 billion, while helping to
quadruple the size of the international remittances market
to more than US$1 trillion by 2012.

    To combine the strengths of the mobile and financial
ecosystems, mobile operators are partnering with banks at a
local or regional level, while the GSMA is setting up a
pilot with MasterCard Worldwide, a global payments leader
whose cards and network provide international
authorization, clearing and settlement. The GSMA and
MasterCard, which has a 25,000 member-bank network, plan to
pilot a global hub that will link together national markets
and the local payment systems run by mobile operators in
partnership with those local banks. The hub will enable
migrant workers to trigger international money transfers
using their mobile phone and their families to be notified
via their mobile phones.

    "The creation of a global hub will enable the
mobile networks, which now cover more than 80% of the
world's population, to offer the world's burgeoning migrant
population a convenient way to securely and cost-effectively
transfer money to their families back in their home
countries." said Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA, the
global trade association for mobile operators. "We are
mobilising financial services for the billions of people who
are unbanked and the underbanked."

    "In its pivotal role at the heart of commerce,
MasterCard has always been committed to harnessing its
payment card products and advanced technology to help drive
innovation, pioneer new forms of payment and help steer the
future of global commerce," said Roy Dunbar,
President, Global Technology and Operations, MasterCard
Worldwide.

    "This pilot provides a unique opportunity to use
our global payments products and platform to help open up
new business opportunities in developing countries. We look
forward to working with local markets and partners to bring
much needed payment and money transfer alternatives to the
vast community of underbanked -- as well as all consumers
wishing to transfer money internationally."

    "We believe that this coming together of the
mobile and banking industry is a giant leap in mobile
commerce," added Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman &
Managing Director, Bharti Airtel and Board Member of the
GSM Association. "It will revolutionise the money
transfer industry with its advantages, such as reach, ease
of use, and lower transaction costs and provide immense
benefits to people in developing nations such as
India."  
   
    India is both the world's fastest growing mobile
services market and the biggest recipient of overseas
remittances in the world, accounting for around 10% of the
world market.

    Mr. O. P. Bhat, Chairman, State Bank of India, India's
largest bank added: "We are happy to partner with the
GSM Association in this landmark project. We piloted a
project in a small Himalayan village of Pithoragarh in
India with Airtel and have seen the tremendous results in
this unbanked village. This project has the potential of
transforming the lives and economies across the
globe."

    Smart Communications of the Philippines, another
participant in the programme, plans to launch several pilot
projects in collaboration with mobile phone operators and
banks in Bahrain, Italy and other countries hosting large
Filipino migrant populations. 

    In Bahrain, Smart will work in partnership with MTC
Vodafone Bahrain and a leading bank in the Middle East.
Through the Smart Services Hub, Filipino migrants and
contract workers can remit funds back to the Philippines
conveniently and affordably using their mobile phones.
Smart also sees the need for a global hub that will be
interoperable with the Smart Services Hub. As part of the
GSMA programme, Smart plans to launch a pilot project with
MasterCard as an authorization, clearing and settlement
partner.

    "Aside from lowering costs, we shall provide
Filipinos overseas greater control over the manner in which
their remittances are transmitted and used back home --
enabling them to send funds in the amounts of their choice,
whenever they want, wherever they are," said Napoleon
L. Nazareno, Smart president and CEO.

    International remittances, which total more than US$230
billion a year, are already a major source of income for
many developing countries and a very important factor in
their economic development. "The programme will
resonate with governments because it makes the
international payment market more transparent, encourages
financial inclusion, reduces crime and boosts the flow of
hard currency into their countries," added Mr.
Conway.

    The GSMA is also working with CGAP (the Consultative
Group to Assist the Poor), a microfinance group housed at
the World Bank, and the U.K. Government's Department for
International Development to conduct a survey of the
regulatory environment in about 20 countries, as a
precursor to discussions with regulators in these countries
about creating the optimum regulatory framework for money
transfer and eventually mobile banking and mobile
commerce.

    Through its Development Fund, the GSMA will also work
with mobile operators and financial services companies in
individual countries to develop innovative approaches to
using GSM mobile networks to further extend the role of
mobile technology to deliver greater financial inclusion
and lessen the digital divide.

    About the GSM Association: http://www.gsmworld.com


    For more information, please contact:

     Mark Smith
     Tel:   [phone]

     David Pringle
     Tel:   [phone]

     GSM Association
     Email: [e-mail]


SOURCE  The GSM Association