mPayments

This subject has attracted considerable attention from researchers and development practitioners because of the interest in remittances and the roles they play in alleviating poverty. For instance, G-Cash and Smart Money, offered by the Philippines’ two largest GSM companies, Globe and Smart, allow users to send and receive cash and make payments for a variety of goods and services. A similar program has been implemented in Kenya called M-PESA which allows users to load money onto their phones in shops and then send it via a text message to someone else.They can also withdraw the money at another location using a password, which in Kenya can be much safer than carrying cash.

LIRNEasia intends to explore in detail the case of the Philippines, examining different modes of m-payments and related financial transactions; a classification of the multiple forms of emergent m-payments with international examples; documentation of the growth of m-payments, distinguishing between international and intra-country m-payments; the regulatory problems that have been experienced and are likely to emerge; and the barriers to use by the BOP.

This research was conducted by Erwin Alampay (PhD) in 2009.

Downloads

Alampay, E. &  Bala, G. (2009), Mobile 2.0: m‐money for the BOP in the Philippines

Citation for the above report should be done as: Author Last Name, First Name Initial, (2009), Report Name, Retrieved Date, URL of document on LIRNEasia website.

The policy brief is available here.

Presentations

• “Mobile 2.0: m‐money for the unbanked”  Paper presented by Erwin Alampay at Mobile communication and social policy: An international conference, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA, 9 – 11 October 2009

Media coverage