3GSM: Transfer Cash Overseas Via Cell Phone

The GSM Association has tied up with MasterCard, to develop a pilot program, which allows overseas migrants to use their mobile phones to transfer money to their relatives, back home. MasterCard Worldwide, will work with the GSMA, to provide international authorization, clearing and settlement.

The pilot program aims to enable the world’s 200 million international migrant workers to use their mobile phones to send remittances to their dependents, even to those who don’t have bank accounts. By exploiting the extensive reach of the mobile networks, the program wants to complement existing local channels to make international money transfers significantly more affordable.

GSMA and MasterCard plan to pilot a global hub that will link together national markets and the local payment systems run by mobile operators in partnership with those local banks. The hub will enable migrant workers to trigger international money transfers using their mobile phone and their families to be notified via their mobile phones.

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA, the global trade association for mobile operators said, “The creation of a global hub will enable the mobile networks, which now cover more than 80% of the world’s population, to offer the world’s burgeoning migrant population a convenient way to securely and cost-effectively transfer money to their families back in their home countries. We are mobilizing financial services for the billions of people who are un-banked and the under-banked.”

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti Airtel and Board Member of the GSM Association said, “We believe that this coming together of the mobile and banking industry is a giant leap in mobile commerce. It will revolutionize the money transfer industry with its advantages, such as reach, ease of use, and lower transaction costs and provide immense benefits to people in developing nations such as India.”

Smart Communications (Philippines), is another participant in the program that plans to launch several pilot projects in collaboration with mobile phone operators and banks in Bahrain, Italy and other countries hosting large Filipino migrant populations.

The GSMA is also working with The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the U.K. Government’s Department for International Development, to conduct a survey of the regulatory environment in about 20 countries, as a precursor to discussions with regulators in these countries about mobile banking and mobile commerce.