Mobile Banking: Get the Message Right

By Hisham Isa, Vice President (Marketing)

We've all seen the ads. There's no shortage of creative commercials promoting mobile phones and carriers. But too many of these campaigns – particularly when it comes to services like mobile banking – portray these features as premium services for high-end users.

What the industry needs are ads that clearly demonstrate three things:

• Mobile banking is useful and will make our lives easier
• Mobile banking is for everyone
• And here's how to do it

Banks and carriers also need to move beyond screens to engage consumers more directly with below-the-line marketing campaigns that have a personal touch.

Branchless Banking

By Hisham Isa, Vice President (Marketing)

In this week's column, we continue our series on mobile banking with a look at distribution.

When it comes to expanding financial services, distribution is the name of the game, particularly if you'd like to reach new consumers, such as the UnderBanked - people who have trouble accessing financial services or who do not have bank accounts.

To reach these consumers, banks need to look beyond traditional forms of distribution. They need to look beyond building bank branches. They need Branchless Banking.

Mobile Banking - Innovative Companies Make Inroads and Improve Lives

By Hisham Isa, Vice President (Marketing)

Mobile is changing the way people bank, particularly in communities where people never banked before.

A BuzzCity survey of consumers in twenty markets across four continents finds that nearly 1 in 3 mobile users find m-banking to be easy and useful.

And there are now at least nine countries where the number of registered mobile money accounts has surpassed traditional bank accounts, according to a report released at the 2014 Mobile World Congress.

Traditional banks have the biggest market share, but young upstarts – non-banks and mobile banks – are catching the attention – and money – of people from Bangladesh to Ghana and Guatemala.

Why aren't more people banking with their mobiles?

By Hisham Isa, Vice President (Marketing)

Financial institutions have a long way to go in terms of educating consumers about the availability and advantages of mobile banking.

That's the key conclusion of a BuzzCity survey of mobile users in twenty benchmark countries across four continents.

Contrary to popular belief, concerns about security are not holding back the industry. While that may have been an issue in previous years, the problem today boils down to awareness.