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Weekly Roundup – 11/1/14: Apple Pay is here – should low-income consumers care?
As you may have heard, Apple recently launched a mobile payment app in the U.S. Within three days, it had become the top mobile wallet in the country - and sparked some surprising resistance. We discuss the implications for low-income consumers in the U.S. and emerging markets, along with some good news in global development, in this Roundup.
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- Impact Assessment, Technology
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Zimbabwe’s OneWallet posts massive loss as EcoCash thrives
Government-ownded mobile phone operator NetOne generated a paltry US$1 194 in revenue from its mobile money transfer platform OneWallet for the year-ending December 31 2012 after investing close to a quarter of a million dollars in the product.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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PRESS RELEASE: Mobile Money for the Poor Expanded to Enable Millions in Africa to Access Financial Services
UNCDF, the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs),has partnered with The MasterCard Foundation to expand a flagship program that will enable three million low-income clients in Africa to access mobile financial services for the first time.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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eRezeki project to connect Malaysians at bottom 40% of income pyramid with digital income
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today announced the eRezeki project to connect Malaysians at the bottom 40% of the income pyramid (B40) with domestic and global digital income.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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The Other Digital Currency: Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin get all the attention, but using airtime as currency could play a vital role in developing the digital finance ecosystem
Mobile money’s origins lie in the practice of sending airtime instead of money. And today, the use of airtime as currency endures in markets where mobile money has failed to flourish - or when it is simply more convenient than mobile money services. Mondato’s Chris Connolly explores the benefits and risks of the practice.
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- Uncategorized
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Blockchain Ideas Get Play at IMF Panel
Financial inclusion has become a long overdue buzzword among aid agencies and international economic policymakers of late – and it’s opening the door for bitcoin and blockchain technology to become a part of the discussion among international policymakers.
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- Uncategorized
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What Jamaica’s Mobile Wallet Will Mean for the Unbanked: Financial inclusion community takes note of new national mobile finance product
This summer, the Bank of Jamaica approved the Jamaican Co-operative Credit Union League to extend the use of its mobile wallet to all citizens of the country. This was an incredibly significant development that could have a major impact in Jamaica and beyond, says Mozido founder Michael Liberty.
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- Uncategorized
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Five Sources of Untapped Innovation in Digital Finance: How a new generation of financial products is taking the sector far beyond payments
The GSMA estimates there are more than 60 million active mobile money accounts in over 84 countries, and these figures continue to grow. But though this growth has been driven primarily by payments, financial service providers are beginning to deliver other services through these “digital rails.” CGAP discusses five attributes upon which these second generation products build their value propositions.
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- Uncategorized