Mobile Money Increasing Rapidly

摘要

Mobile phones are about to become the simplest and quickest way to transfer money across borders. Two recent developments indicate that the rapid growth of "mobile money" can be expected in 2008. First it the plan announced recently by Western Union and the GSM Association.. Second the UK mobile operator 02 has launched Europe's largest pilot of Near Field Communications (NFC) technology on mobile phones where consumers use their handsets for purchases and for travel around London. Under an arrangement announced on October 19 by Western Union and the GSM Association, the main mobile phone operators' body," mobile phones can be used to transfer money across borders. According to the Financial Times (FT), the agreement could have a big impact on global cross-border remittances, worth an estimated $500 billion a year and facilitate mobile carriers and Western Union to offer other mobile banking services using "mobile wallet" technology. Cross-border money transfers valued up to $100 in countries such as India, the Philippines, Mexico and China -which have large volumes of remittances from migrant workers - will be an early priority.