Mobile banking pushed

REPRESENTATIVES from the Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG), commercial banks, Post PNG and other organisations gathered for a workshop last week in Port Moresby to discuss the regulatory implications of branchless banking.
Sixty workshop participants spent the day learning about different mobile money transfer systems in operation around the world, including a mobile money pilot recently introduced in PNG. 
Mobile money is an innovative new way to store money electronically on a mobile phone. 
The largest provider in the world is Safaricom in Kenya, a subsidiary of the Vodafone Group. 
Safaricom’s M-Pesa system allows users to add value to their “mobile wallet” at a Safaricom store or participating M-Pesa agent (such as a top-up vendor or local village store) and they can use that electronic value to purchase goods, buy top-up, or transfer funds immediately to another Safaricom user anywhere across Kenya.
M-Pesa’s 10 million subscribers can also exchange the electronic money for cash at an M-Pesa agent or at a number of ATMs around Kenya. 
A similar service, known as M-PAiSA, was recently launched by Vodafone Fiji followed by the introduction of Digicel mobile money. 
BPNG Governor Loi Bakani recognises the potential for mobile money in the country.
In his opening remarks for the workshop, he explained: “There is an absence of basic financial services in PNG’s rural areas due to rugged terrain.
“Farmers and rural citizens are in desperate need of financial services, and often spend considerable amounts of time and money travelling to the city to access these services at a bank.” 
Bakani noted that mobile money could transform the status quo and expand financial inclusion in PNG.
“The technologies currently available on the marketplace can greatly improve the lives of rural citizens by providing access to essential financial services,” he added.
Digicel and DataNets Ltd joined the workshop in the afternoon to discuss their current mobile money partnership in PNG, known as “MPowa”.   
DataNets showed the versatility of their MPowa platform through a skit, as actors bought and sold goods with mobile money, transferred funds, bought top-up, and withdrew cash using the live MPowa system. 
Sundar Ramamurthy, managing director of DataNets, said that PNG was ready for mobile money, and added that Papua New Guineans have been purchasing electricity through MPowa since February last year. 
Demand for that particular service is brisk. 
John Mangos, chief executive officer of Digicel PNG said: “We have the biggest network with the most coverage in the country. 
“By keeping our network open to partnerships such as MPowa or BSP’s SMS banking, we expect to add many different applications, and have the banked and unbanked to come forward and let us know how they want to use our system.”