The Mobile Banking Problem That No One Talks About

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If you ask consumers why they don’t use mobile payments more often, they’ll probably give one of two reasons: either they’re concerned about security issues, research has shown, or they don’t see the point in terms of added value or convenience.

But businesses have a bigger problem, claimed Thabiso Moerane, Mobile Commerce Ecosystem Leader at Alcatel-Lucent, in a prepared statement issued earlier this week.

“Security is not the main concern in mobile banking. The real issue is making m-banking viable as a business concern, in order to offer it to the unbanked,” she said.

Moerane contends that most of the world’s underbanked — those customers in emerging markets that so many payments players are currently fighting over — can only afford to pay about $2 a month towards new mobile financial services.

“Mobile banking makes the most sense because the mobile infrastructure is available across the country,” Moerane added. “What comes into play now is finding ways to achieve a business model that makes commercial sense and is still affordable enough for low-income customers.”

Read the full release here.