TEXT ONE
The idea that mobile phones bring economic benefits is now widely accepted. In places with bad roads, few trains and parlous land lines, they substitute for travel, allow price data to be distributed more quickly and easily, enable traders to reach wider markets and generally ease the business of doing business. Leonard Waverman of the London Business School has estimated that an extra ten mobile phones per 100 people in a typical developing country leads to an extra half a percentage point of growth in GDP per person. To realise the economic benefits of mobile phones, governments in such countries need to do away with state monopolies, issue new licences to allow rival operators to enter the market and slash taxes on handsets. With few exceptions , they have done so, and mobile phones are now spreading fast, even in the poorest parts of the world.
As mobile phones have spread, a new economic benefit is coming into view: using them for banking, and so improving access to financial services, not just telecoms networks. Pioneering m-banking projects in the Philippines, Kenya and South Africa show the way. These branchless schemes typically allow customers to deposit and withdraw cash through a mobile operators airtime-resale agents, and send money to other people via text messages that can be exchanged for cash by visiting an agent. Workers can then be paid by phone; taxi-drivers and delivery-drivers can accept payments without carrying cash around; money can be easily sent to friends and family. A popular use is to deposit money before making a long journey and then withdraw it at the other end, which is safer than carrying lots of cash.
There is no need to set up a national network of branches or cash machines. M-banking schemes can be combined with microfinance loans, extending access to credit and enabling users to establish a credit history. Some schemes issue customers with debit cards linked to their m-banking accounts. All this has the potential to give the unbanked masses access to financial services, and bring them into the formal economy.
What can governments do to foster m-banking? As with the spread of mobile phones themselves, a lot depends on putting the right regulations in place. They need to be tight enough to protect users and discourage money laundering, but open enough to allow new services to emerge. The existing banking model is both over- and under-protective, says Tim Lyman of the World Bank, because it did not foresee the convergence of telecommunications and financial services.
In many countries only licensed banks are allowed to collect deposits. Even if a mobile operator forms a partnership with a bank, its agents may have to comply with banking rules covering everything from the height of the counter to the installation of alarms. Financial institutions may have to provide detailed statements to the central bank every week, which is tricky for organisations with agents in remote areas. Some countries have rigid rules on the documents demanded of anybody opening an account, which excludes many.
2016届高考英语一轮复习专项练习 1《冠词》
2016届高考英语一轮复习对点题组练习 专项4《代词》
山西省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Uint 1《Cultural relics》必修2
2016届高考英语一轮复习对点题组练习 专项5《形容词和副词》
山西省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Uint 3《Computers》必修2
山西省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Uint 2《The Olympic Games》必修2
2016届高考英语人教版一轮复习:综合能力测试6
河北省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Unit 5 First aid》必修5
山西省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Uint 1《Living well》选修7
河北省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Unit 4《Wildlife Protection》必修2
2016届高考英语一轮复习对点题组练习 专项8《非谓语动词》
河北省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Unit 5《Music》必修2
山西省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Uint 1《women of achievement》必修4
2016届高考英语人教版一轮复习:综合能力测试5
2016届高考英语一轮复习对点题组练习 专项3《介词和介词短语》
2016届高考英语一轮复习对点题组练习 专项10《定语从句》
2016届高考英语人教版一轮复习:综合能力测试8
河北省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Unit 1《Cultural relics》必修2
山西省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Uint 2《Poems》选修6
山西省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Uint 3《life in the future》必修5
山西省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Uint 1《A land of diversity》选修8
2016届高考英语人教版一轮复习:综合能力测试4
山西省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Uint 2《The United Kingdom》必修5
山西省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Uint 1《Festivals around the world》必修3
山西省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Uint 3《a taste of English humor》必修4
2016届高考英语人教版一轮复习:综合能力测试3
2016届高考英语一轮复习对点题组练习 专项13《特殊句式及其他》
2016届高考英语人教版一轮复习:综合能力测试2
山西省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Uint 2《Cloning》选修8
山西省2016届高考英语一轮复习学案(新人教版) Uint 2《Healthy Eating》必修3
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