Mobile Financial Services or mobile money is already seeing a lot of traction and in 2016 it is expected to become a key technology trend. Jonathan Kaftzan, Director-Product Marketing, Mobile Financial Services, Amdocs, explains some of the important developments driving this space in the next one year and beyond. Kaftzan states that one of the key drivers is the continuously evolving regulatory landscape,which is generating new business models as resource-limited governments welcome partnerships with institutions able to provide ideas, capital and operational skills. The second key driver is that social is the future of mobile commerce. According to an Amdocs report,up to 15% of feature phone users and 24 percent of smartphone users prefer to go to their social media page to make a purchase, which is regarded as a big purchase, says Kaftzan. He further predicts that in the New Year, global currencies will grow. “The PIN-based vouchers such as crypto currencies are providing an alternative to existing geographically limited currencies. The growth of crypto currencies could lead to a truly globalized currency, — not there yet but there is movement in this area lately,” mentions Kaftzan. However, Amdocs sees a slightly different growth trajectory in the developing market from that of the developed one. In the developed markets, for example, Near Field Communication (NFC) adoption will increase as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay become more popular and more commonly used. “Merchants and retail outlets are already implementing new POS’ that are already equipped with NFC terminals, states Kaftzan. He also believes that digital banks will accelerate as every bank will explore this offering to meet millennials special needs and preferences. In such a scenario, new banks what we call, fintech startups will rise, as well as, Peer to Peer (P2P) lending will become more popular. Kaftzan’s view on developing countries is a little different. He is optimistic that in these regions, mobile money adoption will increase. He refers to a Bank of America report, which indicates that mobile payments will form 10 percent of the total payments in India which was just 0.1 per cent in financial year 2015. They are expected to grow 200 fold in 7 years to $3 trillion and will benefit IT, telecom, and banking and mobile wallet companies. In these markets, interoperability will become the essence, believes Kaftzan, thereby enabling greater adoption of mobile services across devices, operating systems, banks, and service providers. “Partnerships between banks and telcos will become more popular to jointly bank the unbanked,” he mentions, adding that advanced mobile financial services such as loans, credit, and insurance will become more mainstream in the coming months. Last but not the least, Kaftzan predicts the international remittances market will adopt mobile financial services for international money transfer. New companies like telcos and startups will enter this market replacing the traditional players like banks and Money Transfer Organizations (MTOs).
Jonathan Kaftzan , Director of Product Marketing at Amdocs , the communications, media and entertainment software and services provider, has drawn on a recent PIN report to forecast that mobile payments will form 10% of total payments for India during the next seven years , as the interoperability of cryptocurrency transactions continues to develop and the popularity of mobile internet and e-commerce gains global traction. Mr Jonathan Kaftzan has reportedly stated that the predicted 200-fold growth over 2016 to $ just 0.1 per cent will bring great opportunities for the country's IT, telecom, and banking and mobile wallet companies as the mobile banking phenomenon escalates in response to the digital preferences of millennials. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending, partnerships between new banks and telecoms arising from the boom in financial technology start-ups, and advanced mobile financial services such as loans, insurances and credit card services will offer the most lucrative business opportunities, as traditional banking processes are gradually replaced and the world moves towards a new one -currency era.