Mobile banking is becoming more and more popular in countries of the Third World. While in developed countries almost all people have bank accounts, only a small part of the population in underdeveloped countries has access to banks.
In mobile banking a person who wants to send money does so by sending the amount via text to the receiver’s phone number. The person who receives the money goes to an authorized local shop that and withdraws the cash.
There are many examples for mobile banking in the Third World. Hospitals in Tanzania send money to women so that they can pay for the bus fare to the hospital. In Afghanistan the government pays its policemen by mobile phone. Coffee plantation owners in East Africa send workers their money via text.
Mobile banking has become popular where there are few banks but where most of the people have a mobile phone. The potential market is especially large in South America where only 35% of the people have bank accounts but 90% have mobile phones.