In 15 years, mobile banking can help change the way the world
lives-even the poorest of the poor who have no capability to be able to
open up their own bank accounts. Bill and Melinda Gates in their annual
letter issued recently mentioned the way that mobile banking can change
the way the world does its business especially those who live in areas
where banking is deemed impossible.
It is not a hidden fact that a lot of people hate banks and the way its centralized system takes control of their assets but it is also one of the most effective ways to be able to save money and do a lot of financial transactions. Needless to say, without the existence of banks, our world today may not have a great reach to each other in terms of trade and economics. We can always protest with how much banks are able to manipulate the financial system but their aid has given breakthroughs that were only imagined years ago.
With the emergence of online banking, a lot of other transactions have become possible-especially to people who have bank accounts. However, this system is pretty much limited to the use of those who can afford, those who earn a lot or those who have enough money in their wallets and those who are easily able to have access to a nearby bank. This kind of system still isolates the people who are too poor to be able to keep up a remaining balance and all the other fees being charged when people do go below the required maintenance balance.
The Gates Foundation have started reaching out to the poor people located in Nigeria and India with the establishment of bKash and mpesa. This way, people are able to send-via sms-the amount that they want to send. This does not only involve payments to other people but also keeping an online account. Before this innovation, these people were merely storing up their moneys at home which becomes prone to theft and some even invest on livestock or other materials that do lose their value as time passes by. And when emergency situations should arise, they do not have enough to pay for it or cannot get little amounts from what they have invested in without sacrificing it as a whole. This is pretty much saved by online banking as they are able to save more money and use it for many daily transactions and emergency.
Gates admits that although these innovation has started to change the way people are doing their transactions and even if mobile banking has now reached out to a lot of the masses, there is still a part of the system that makes other do not consider it. If, perhaps, we can make the transaction fees lower and the process more secure, it would be a major breakthrough. This things are still not possible though but may be one of the things that we can look forward to in the future.
Admittedly, both Bitcoin and ripple are doing efforts to start the provision of bridges that make mobile banking even more powerful. Although Gates states that this will not dominate or monopolize the whole mobile banking transactions, it is a big leap to changes with the way the world transacts.
Today, a lot of people who are rich enough are able to use mobile banking and other cashless transactions. Tomorrow, even the poorest people are able to change their lives with same technology made accessible to them.
Mpesa and bKash have started this with mobile transactions that do not require smart phones which becomes very possible for the poor to do the same things as those who have the high end phones. If you think about it, people who are in the farthest and poorest places are often the source of our most basic commodities, and the additional amount they spend coupled with the time they need to spend to do this is an additional burden. With the rise in the mobility of transactions and banking, they are now able to do the usual two-day transactions in a couple of hours without being there themselves. This saves a lot of money for them and they can now use it for other basic needs.
Although a lot of us still doubt the change that technology brings and how it is going to impact the lives of many, it is undeniable that it is slowly starting to change the way everyone is living. Gates has funded such cause and who knows what mobile banking will be able to do in the future. It is a software and hardware adaptation that competitors would consider to expand and sustain their market and capital.
It is not a hidden fact that a lot of people hate banks and the way its centralized system takes control of their assets but it is also one of the most effective ways to be able to save money and do a lot of financial transactions. Needless to say, without the existence of banks, our world today may not have a great reach to each other in terms of trade and economics. We can always protest with how much banks are able to manipulate the financial system but their aid has given breakthroughs that were only imagined years ago.
With the emergence of online banking, a lot of other transactions have become possible-especially to people who have bank accounts. However, this system is pretty much limited to the use of those who can afford, those who earn a lot or those who have enough money in their wallets and those who are easily able to have access to a nearby bank. This kind of system still isolates the people who are too poor to be able to keep up a remaining balance and all the other fees being charged when people do go below the required maintenance balance.
The Gates Foundation have started reaching out to the poor people located in Nigeria and India with the establishment of bKash and mpesa. This way, people are able to send-via sms-the amount that they want to send. This does not only involve payments to other people but also keeping an online account. Before this innovation, these people were merely storing up their moneys at home which becomes prone to theft and some even invest on livestock or other materials that do lose their value as time passes by. And when emergency situations should arise, they do not have enough to pay for it or cannot get little amounts from what they have invested in without sacrificing it as a whole. This is pretty much saved by online banking as they are able to save more money and use it for many daily transactions and emergency.
Gates admits that although these innovation has started to change the way people are doing their transactions and even if mobile banking has now reached out to a lot of the masses, there is still a part of the system that makes other do not consider it. If, perhaps, we can make the transaction fees lower and the process more secure, it would be a major breakthrough. This things are still not possible though but may be one of the things that we can look forward to in the future.
Admittedly, both Bitcoin and ripple are doing efforts to start the provision of bridges that make mobile banking even more powerful. Although Gates states that this will not dominate or monopolize the whole mobile banking transactions, it is a big leap to changes with the way the world transacts.
Today, a lot of people who are rich enough are able to use mobile banking and other cashless transactions. Tomorrow, even the poorest people are able to change their lives with same technology made accessible to them.
Mpesa and bKash have started this with mobile transactions that do not require smart phones which becomes very possible for the poor to do the same things as those who have the high end phones. If you think about it, people who are in the farthest and poorest places are often the source of our most basic commodities, and the additional amount they spend coupled with the time they need to spend to do this is an additional burden. With the rise in the mobility of transactions and banking, they are now able to do the usual two-day transactions in a couple of hours without being there themselves. This saves a lot of money for them and they can now use it for other basic needs.
Although a lot of us still doubt the change that technology brings and how it is going to impact the lives of many, it is undeniable that it is slowly starting to change the way everyone is living. Gates has funded such cause and who knows what mobile banking will be able to do in the future. It is a software and hardware adaptation that competitors would consider to expand and sustain their market and capital.
