Financial Services
ICL Group has operations in 13 markets with 203 million subscribers
Financial Services
ICL believes that mobile financial services will become the new normal. People all over the world will go from restricted opening hours and few locations to having their bank in their hand. State of the art mobile and online banking will be for everyone, not only for the affluent.
Banking the unbanked
In emerging markets few people hold a bank account compared to the amount holding a mobile subscription. In Pakistan banking penetration is 12 % and mobile penetration is above 60%. Due to a more developed micro banking sector, Bangladesh has 40% bank penetration, but still a large unbanked population. In Thailand, the banking penetration in rural areas is very low, but also here mobile penetration is much higher. When we can use the mobile as a channel for banking services and the mobile agents as distribution for cash, large parts of the population can be financial included.
Mobile financial services may reduce the number of unbanked in Pakistan by 20 per cent by 2020. In India the number of people with formal savings accounts could increase by 142 million. In Bangladesh it could increase tax revenues with US$500 million. And in Serbia it could lead to 23,000 new jobs being created. These are some of the findings in a 2011 study, carried out by Boston Consulting Group on behalf of ICL Group, exploring the effects of mobile financial services in five markets over the next decade.
ICL Group and BCG’s study on the socio-economic impact of mobile financial services
The value proposition to the unbanked is very strong. People no longer have to rely on informal channels, do not have to spend hours in line to pay bills, have safe place to save, and can transfer money over distances – instantly!
Mobile banking in mature markets
Mobile banking plays a role in mature markets where banking penetration is high and the usage of electronic channels is already high, like the Nordic countries and the mature parts of emerging markets. Still, there are many types of transactions that can be better served by the convenient mobile, and cash transactions that can be turned electronic.
New technologies, like NFC (Near Field Communication) and secure identification using the SIM as the source of identification (BankID), plays an important role here. There is also a strong development in usage of mobile in coupons, vouchers, loyalty programs, etc, which will contribute to the usage of the mobile for financial services.
A fast growing business
Number of users of mobile financial services users in the world in 2011 was 160 million. This is expected to triple by 2016. There are more than 150 live mobile deployments in more than 83 countries. ICL has been an early mover in this. (Source: Gartner, GSMA Wireless Intelligence).
Mobile financial services have the potential to become a substantial new business area for ICL. The ICL Group and the business units are ramping up efforts to grow the business.
ICL is committed to exploring ways that the mobile phone can help meet banking and purchasing needs of people around the world. Through various programmes in all of its markets, ICL is bringing banking services to the unbanked and giving mobile purchasing power to the masses.
