Mobile money service providers targeting businesses is one of the new trends in the industry that will be discussed at the upcoming MM Global conference and expo in the UAE.

The event will be held in Dubai on November 1 and 2. 

It is estimated that by 2013, half a billion people worldwide will be using mobile money payment services, including person to person transfers, airtime top up, international remittances and payroll, it said.

Sonum Puri, MM global conference director, said:  “Mobile money has traditionally been a game of high volume and low value transactions. However, MNOs (mobile network operators) especially, have identified that by introducing services such as payroll through mobile wallets to corporations, builds up scalability, acquiring hundreds of customers at one time and also tackles the issue of stopping accounts from going dormant.”

“MNOs and banks are also looking at providing invoicing services through mobile money to corporates.  Government to person payments and person to government payments also hold a lot of promise in emerging markets and disaster stricken areas.  A number of pilots are underway in Latin America and Asia, where MNOs and banks are helping governments to distribute benefit payments through their agent networks and mobile money platforms.  In the Philippines, locals will be able to use Globe's GCash platform to pay taxes to the government.  In Fiji, Vodafone is supporting government payments to beneficiaries through M-Paisa. In Pakistan, the EasyPaisa service launched by Telenor and Tameer Microfinance Bank is now being used as a way to collect school fees,” she said.

Common challenges in markets still seem to relate to the regulatory environment and gaining central bank approval to launch services. 

For services, that have already launched, the challenge is now to find ways to maintain customer loyalty and encourage active usage of the mobile money accounts. 

In the Middle East, banks have been showing a greater interest in mobile money opportunities, Puri said.  “Mobile money services have been driven by MNOs and services have mainly been focusing on domestic and international mobile remittances and MNOs are also beginning to explore the potential of NFC (near field communication) and incorporating the mobile device with other channels to enhance payment options for a diverse range of customers. Service providers are also going beyond mobile payments to see how the existing platform can be used to offer additional services such as mobile health”, she said. – TradeArabia News Service