Course Details

Mobile Money for Financial Inclusion

Mobile money services are proliferating in many countries, providing ‘unbanked’ citizens with the ability to manage their money and make financial transactions efficiently and securely. While the business model has been proven through hundreds of self-sustaining services, many countries have only a nascent mobile money sector. Meanwhile, in mature markets the mobile money platform is now used to offer a broader range of financial and mobile-for-development services. This course provides an in-depth look at mobile money services — how they work, the stakeholders involved and the regulatory enablers, as well as critical issues such as cross-network interoperability.

Course Objective

Understand the value of mobile money services to individuals and society

• Learn what mobile operators must do to launch a mobile money service
• Learn about the regulatory framework that is required, as well as the legal boundaries

Course Outline

Introduction to Mobile Money

• Who are the unbanked?
•  The cost of cash
•  Mobile money impact around the globe
• How mobile money services work

The Regulatory Environment

• A primer on financial-sector terminology
• Regulatory principles for financial services and key areas for mobile money
•  The role of the telecoms regulator

Business Models for Mobile Money Services

• The case for non-bank financial providers
• Unique advantages of mobile network operators
• Differences among mobile money services

Consumer Protection — Safeguarding Customer Funds

• Customer due diligence
• Mobile money agent due diligence

Technical Considerations for Mobile Operators

• Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) channel sharing
• Application Program Interfaces (APIs)
• Interoperability

Business Case

• Vodafone mPisa
• Airtel mMoney