siliconindia | | September 20188IN MY OPINIONBy Srinivas Nidugondi, Senior Vice President & Head, Mobile Financial Solutions, Mahindra ComvivaMahindra Comviva is a global leader in mobile solutions which offers Mobile Financial Solutions, Mobile Data Solutions, Customer Value Management, Digital Lifestyle Solutions and many more.I t would be fair to say that this decade is the one of financial inclusion. According to the World Bank Global Findex database, 1.2 billion customers opened an account at a financial institution or through a mobile money provider between 2011 and 2017. This originated largely from low and middle income countries, where the percentage of adults holding an account leaped from 42 percent in 2011 to 63 percent in 2017. Mobile money has enabled this growth, as it has established itself as a key financial instrument in many countries. As per the World Bank's Global Findex database, in 24 countries, more than 20 percent of the adult population has a mobile money account. In 12 countries, the number of mobile money account holders exceeded the number of accounts holders at financial institutions such as banks, microfinance institutions and others (see Graphs 1 & 2). Clearly, the mobile money revolution has spread to the four corners of the globe. As per GSMA, there are 276 mobile money services in 90 countries, enabling access to 690 million registered users. These customers in turn process transactions worth a billion dollars a day.But, what is Mobile Money?Mobile money does not require a bank account, which is why it has emerged as a viable alternative for the unbanked and the under-banked to access such services. The mobile number functions as a unique identifier, allowing customers to transfer money from one electronic wallet to another by merely typing the recipient's mobile number. This is critical for countries with poor banking infrastructure and low penetration of banking services. MOBILE TECHNOLOGY'S TRANSFORMATIVE IMPACT ON THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL SPACE
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