-
The universal consumer demand for bill payment makes the service particularly well-suited to bringing people into the financial mainstream.
October 5 -
Serving the unbanked requires a worldview that most industry insiders don't have, but truly need in order to innovate responsibly on behalf these consumers. Here are insights some companies have gleaned from spending a day as the underserved.
October 3 -
The FDIC highlighted continued use of "alternative financial services" in its second-ever survey reporting the share of households that are unbanked or underbanked.
September 12
Mobile technologies are revolutionizing financial services in both developing and developed economies, helping bring a wider range of services to a greater number of people than ever before.
As a result of advances in mobile technologies, the way consumers interact with financial institutions is being redefined, providing a new level of access. While potentially revolutionary for everyone, this is particularly so for the underbanked.
As more and more consumers embrace mobile applications using what we still (perhaps, incorrectly) call phones, the demand for financial services through these devices has skyrocketed – with far-reaching implications. These devices are streamlining the distribution chain and offering firms new ways of engaging with customers who can get access to increasingly sophisticated banking services.
The underbanked has been a group that financial firms have long struggled in finding ways to reach in a profitable manner. But mobile banking can provide products and services that would otherwise be out of reach for the bank (from a profitability and risk perspective), and the consumer (for lack of access to physical banking infrastructure and virtual credit ratings).
New mobile innovations have started in emerging markets that have embraced mobile technologies quickly due to the lack of existing banking infrastructure. One example is Kenya, where technologically simple e-payment platforms based on text messaging are thriving. Safaricom's M-PESA, launched in 2007, enables consumers to deposit cash with a certified mobile money agent, who then converts the cash to electronic money that is stored on the phone. The consumer can pay bills, make purchases, transfer money to a family member or friend, receive money and perform a variety of other activities. If the consumer wants cash again, they simply visit the nearest mobile money agent to "cash out."
This text-based offering has had tremendous success. Since its launch, M-PESA has reached more than 14 million customers in four countries, including nine million in Kenya, or approximately 40% of the adult Kenyan population. A few years ago, most rural Kenyans didn't have any financial services. Then M-PESA began offering bank accounts. Now Kenyans can transfer money from their M-PESA account into a formal savings account. The demand for financial services was there, lying dormant until mobile money provided the means to satisfy it.
Kenya taught us that even the most basic forms of mobile, like text messaging, can establish a foundation for financial services with the underbanked or unbanked. The quality of technology is no longer a barrier. While the target for most text message-based mobile services is the unbanked in emerging markets, there are plenty of lessons from Kenya that can be applied to developed economies including the U.S. This idea of reverse innovation—where services that are created to meet needs in developing countries are repackaged as a low-cost service in developed countries—is happening with mobile technologies. The success in Kenya can be replicated in the U.S. and other developed countries by providing accessible, low-cost services through mobile devices.
As Andrea O'Connor, customer experience executive and vice president of State Farm Bank, notes: "Mobile transcends demographics. Mobile is about behavior. It's about accessing information and transacting business yourself at any time, wherever you are, whatever your age."
More than
Quite simply, the barriers to addressing a significant new demographic have dropped, significantly and quickly, because of mobile. The point is not necessarily that every bank should change their target demographic, but rather that mobile technologies change how the current customer demographic engages with the bank, and potentially offer profitable paths for banks to engage with new customers.
Patrick Molineux is senior principal for strategic development for CSC's Financial Services Group, a financial services technology provider. More of his views on banking can be found at
