Mobile Money in Developing Economies: A Substitute or Complement to Traditional Financial Instruments

摘要

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in mobile money as part of financial inclusion programs aimed at providing access for more people to the formal financial system. However, instead of determining how mobile money can expand financial inclusion which is thoroughly studied in the literature, this thesis analyzes whether the implementation of a viable mobile payment system hinges on an existing traditional bank based monetary payment system. In conclusion, the mobile money is a modern complement, rather than an effective substitute, to traditional modes of finance. Therefore, before applying the mobile money in the financial inclusion project, the policy makers should consider the development level of traditional financial system.