Remittances and mobile banking: The potential to leapfrog traditional challenges

With mobile phone coverage generally surpassing 90 per cent of the population, even in developing countries, the potential to leapfrog to mobile banking holds the promise of addressing many of the challenges currently faced by rural remittance recipients.

Long, costly and potentially dangerous treks from isolated villages to urban financial institutions could soon be replaced by instantaneous transfers of funds from one country to another using mobile phones. The convergence of remittances and mobility is inevitable and new opportunities in basic financial services for remittance senders and recipients are growing rapidly.

The growth of this market will benefit all sectors, making payments faster, more convenient, more secure and more accessible to a greater number of senders and recipients. Overall, rural consumers will particularly benefit from money transfers and other mobile and online services currently designed for and offered to urban consumers in both remittance sending and receiving countries.