[Dave Birch] The ninth of the lunchtime round tables in the Innovation in Payment series will be a special joint roundtable shared with the Development series and will be held at Baker's Hall, Harp Lane, London EC3R 6DP from 12.30pm-2.15pm on 4th March 2009. Rachel Bale from Visa, Prateek Shrivastava from Monitise and Paul Makin from Consult Hyperion will be on the panel and we will be discussing whether we can help the poor in developed countries by using the payment technologies being deployed in developing countries: Download (104K).
In developing countries, there has been a revolution. A revolution in financial inclusion that is freeing millions, soon billions, from being trapped in a cash economy by bringing them relatively basic payment services. The combination of the payment card, mobile phone and microfinance is having a major impact, particularly because of the importance of remittances to developing markets. The migrant sending money to his wife’s ATM card, the city worker texting money up country and the tourist paying by credit card are all helping to improve the lives of people in emerging markets. At the same time, low-cost products (a good example being the pre-paid cards widely used in Italy) are gaining ground in developed markets.
As mobile operators, banks and new institutions find ways to use new technology to deliver low-cost solutions in developing markets, people are beginning to wonder if these solutions might have something to offer in developed markets as well. Couldn’t the financially excluded in Marseille use M-PESA? G-Cash for Greece? Wings for Warrington? With the innovative and successful combination of prepaid, mobile and other new technologies in, for example, Africa, it seems an interesting time to ask an unusual question: can new systems for payments in developing countries help the poor in developed countries?
Three experts will share perspectives rooted in practical experience:
- Rachel Bale of Visa will highlight some of their experiences gained rolling out card products in developing markets.
- Prateek Shrivastava of Monitise will share some of their experiences bringing mobile banking into developing markets.
- Paul Makin of Consult Hyperion, who worked on the initial feasibility study for M-PESA in Kenya and so has some deep background in this field, will talk about technologies beyond mobile being considered for the next generation of financial services in developing countries.
You might never get the opportunity to question them on a panel together again, so please do come along and help us to understand how their experiences from developing markets might be applied to the problem of financial inclusion in European countries. Attendance is free, but space is limited. So if you or a colleague would like to join us, please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing sophie (at) csfi.org.uk or by phoning the CSFI on +44 (20) 7493 0173 as soon as possible.
Perhaps the most important use of money - It saves time.
Author W. Somerset Maugham (1943).
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