Mobile Banking: don't rush it

I sense some simply opportunistic moves among management of some local Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) to move into Mbanking.And I can't help but wonder!??!!?....If Mbanking hasn't pick up among middle-high income clients in developed economies why would it work in rural Africa?

Trying to get illiterate clients into mobile banking might be as ineffective as giving desktops to a school with no electric supply. Just a thought.



Risking to sound conservative and retrograde, I dislike the wave of passion toward Mbanking and wonder if more than picking up on the latest development fashion or applaud obediently when the donor (Millenium Challenge Account in this case) puts the money, local MFIs could be client-centered and strategic in integrating technology into microfinance.

Comments

Unknown said…
There is a solution for mobile banking to deal with illiterate cliets. Its called IVR (Interactive Voice Response). What IVR does is talk to the user using a combination of voice menus and voices extracted from databases real time. Requires a front end call center to route calls to the appropriate menus though. I believe that not all functions can be outsourced to the mobile phone. For example, meetings are utmost necessary for the survival of the MFI but meetings can be modified from weekly meetings to monthly meetings. By encouraging branchless banking through the mobile phone, we could also encourage the client to pay whenever he wants and how much ever he wants before the repayment date.
9:02 PM
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