Trust, Mobile Banking, and Urban-Rural Remittances

Al Hammond blogs on the NextBillion.net blog of the World Resources Institute about comments made at the recent Cairo conference on mobile banking and, in particular, the experience of M-PESA in Kenya. "The dominant use of M-PESA by Kibera residents is to transfer money home to their native rural villages, underscoring the importance of internal remittances in virtually all developing countries. ... M-PESA is competing successfully with more traditional means of remittances. Many users say the service is faster, safer-less chance of theft or "lost" money-and could be sent directly to their home village."