Many banks launched into mobile banking without a well-articulated idea of what customers’ problems were and how to address those problems. Ivatury and Mas (2008) predicted that poor people are more likely than rich people to use mobile phones to undertake financial transactions.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed these days by the volume of innovations around digital money and payments. Existing players as well as new ones promote and offer this. Some tackle specific points of customer convenience, and others aim for greater safety and robustness.

Banks Are Not There

An estimated 2.5 billion adults lack access to basic formal financial services. This situation arises because banks do not find it economically attractive to deploy banking infrastructure and staff bank employees in poor and rural areas. Branch penetration, for example, averages only two branches per 100,000 people in the poorest country quintile (compared with 33 in the richest). ATMs are even scarcer, averaging only 1.3 per 100,000 people in the poorest quintile (compared with 67 in the richest).