Viewpoints

Visa’s Blog – Visa Viewpoints

PERSPECTIVES ON DIGITAL CURRENCY

Feb 27, 2013

Financial Services

Postcards from #MWC13: Ashwin Raj on Emerging Markets

As Visa’s Head of Mobile Product in Emerging Markets, Ashwin Raj talks about the importance of Visa’s participation at Mobile World Congress and how it allows Visa to showcase our capabilities, offering a view of what we have accomplished so far–as well articulate our vision for the future of payments.

Ashwin explains how mobile technology has revolutionized the way financial services reach unbanked and under-served consumers in emerging markets and the role Visa plays in making mobile money transactions secure, reliable and convenient.

See Ashwin’s full interview below:

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Posted by: Lucas Mast, Visa Corporate Relations on February 27, 2013 at 4:11 pm

Feb 25, 2013

Unlocking the Potential: Women and Mobile Financial Services in Emerging Markets

Visa, in conjunction with the GSMA mWomen Programme and Bankable Frontier Associates, is pleased to announce the release of Unlocking the Potential: Women and Mobile Financial Services in Emerging Markets. This new report identifies the financial needs of women living at the bottom of the pyramid; key findings include:

  • Women actively contribute to household income. Seventy-five percent of women surveyed contribute some amount of income, most often from irregular sources like small businesses or agricultural sales.
  • Women use a variety of tools to manage household finances. Nearly 60 percent of women surveyed are saving money for daily expenses and long-term needs, and a full one-third pay the family’s utility bills or make other types of remittances.
  • Women recognize the security and privacy of mobile money. In Kenya, for example, 95 percent of women using mobile remittances rated them as secure and private. In comparison, only half of those using personal delivery of cash as their primary method consider it secure and private.

Additionally, the study identifies actionable next steps for mobile financial service providers that want to expand their business to reach this untapped market, including: increasing mobile access for women; providing better financial literacy services to encourage awareness and understanding; delivering high-quality customer service; and developing targeted solutions to existing barriers faced by women in these markets.

This effort is part of Visa’s ongoing efforts to advance financial inclusion in the developing world. Given that women make up a majority of the 2.5 billion adults who lack access to formal financial products, this report has particular significance for these efforts. We look forward to continuing to work with our partners to bring more underserved women into the financial mainstream, thereby reducing the cycle of poverty throughout the world.

For more information on the report, please click here. To read the full report, please visit the GSMA website.

 

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Posted by: Douglas Sabo, Visa Corporate Responsibility on February 25, 2013 at 11:12 pm

Feb 19, 2013

Empowering Women with Mobile Money: Stories from the Field

In the final piece in our five-part series highlighting the role of mobile financial services for women in developing countries, we sat down with Wajiha Ahmed of Bankable Frontier Associates (BFA) to discuss her experiences in Indonesia. Wajiha’s work will be part of research conducted by Visa, the GSMA mWomen Programme and BFA that explores the role of mobile financial services for women in developing countries.

In her interview, Wajiha explored the financial challenges facing women in both rural and urban Indonesia. Despite significant barriers, women have developed innovative solutions to supplement the lack of formal savings tools with informal mechanisms that help meet their needs.

Watch Wajiha share her in-field experience in this video interview and read more in her guest contribution on Mobile Payments Today.

 

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Posted by: Douglas Sabo, Visa Corporate Responsibility on February 19, 2013 at 9:28 am

Feb 14, 2013

Empowering Women with Mobile Money: Stories from the Field

Visa, the GSMA mWomen Programme and Bankable Frontier Associates (BFA) will soon release the results of a study exploring the role of mobile financial services for women in developing countries. We sat down with BFA Associate Niketa Kulkarni to discuss her experiences conducting focus groups for the study in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Niketa shares her observations of financial management in PNG, a tight-knit environment where it is not uncommon to share money and goods within personal communities. She explores many of the challenges of financial services within this unique culture, and opportunities for how mobile services can help ease some of the burdens.

Watch Niketa share her in-field experience in this video interview and read more on her guest contribution on Mobile Payments Today. This is the fourth in a series of articles exploring mobile financial services in developing economies.

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Posted by: Douglas Sabo, Visa Corporate Responsibility on February 14, 2013 at 2:03 pm

Feb 13, 2013

Visa Accelerates Access to Financial Services

Extending the benefits of electronic payments to more people has always been a priority for Visa. This morning we took a major step toward giving unbanked consumers in developing countries access to the security and reliability of electronic payments and financial services.

Visa today announced the launch of a new service that makes it easy and cost-effective for financial institutions and mobile network operators in developing countries to offer unbanked consumers access to financial services by linking a virtual account that is tied to a consumers’ mobile-phone number. Aircel and ICICI in India, as well as Bank of Kigali and Urwego Opportunity Banks in Rwanda are the first to take advantage of this service.

Why is this important? The ability to pay a utility bill, send money to a relative living in another country, or withdraw money at an ATM by simply texting payment instructions to the bank is a game changer for consumers in countries where cash has been the only form of payment, and where paying bills usually means standing in line for hours.

This is just the beginning. More than 2 billion consumers worldwide are unbanked, many of whom own a mobile phone. It is the ubiquity of mobile technology, especially in developing countries, that is finally making it possible for us to extend financial services to the unbanked. Today’s announcement is a great example of Visa’s role in this journey, which is to harness mobile technology to enable financial institutions and mobile operators to drive access to formal financial services and electronic payments.

For more information about Visa Mobile Managed Service, click here.

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Posted by: Jim McCarthy, Head of Global Product, Visa Inc. on February 13, 2013 at 3:53 pm

Feb 12, 2013

Empowering Women with Mobile Money: Stories from the Field

 In advance of releasing research between Visa, GSMA mWomen Programme and Bankable Frontier Associates (BFA) that explores the role of mobile financial services for women in developing countries, we sat down with BFA Research Manager Michelle Hasan to discuss her experiences conducting fieldwork for the study in Kenya.

Michelle reported some interesting findings from Kenya, home of one of the most mature mobile financial services markets in the world. With many people already sending and receiving money via mobile phone, Michelle was able to learn first-hand the likes and dislikes about these services.

Michelle shares her experience in Kenya in a guest contribution on Mobile Payments Today. Also watch BFA Director Daryl Collins share similar feedback from her experiences in Kenya in this video interview.  This is the third in a series of articles exploring mobile financial services in developing economies.

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Posted by: Douglas Sabo, Visa Corporate Responsibility on February 12, 2013 at 12:40 pm

Feb 7, 2013

Empowering Women with Mobile Money: Stories from the Field

In advance of the release of the ground-breaking research between Visa, the GSMA mWomen Programme and Bankable Frontier Associates (BFA) that explores the role of mobile financial services for women in developing countries, we sat down with BFA Associate Kristy Bohling to discuss her experiences conducting fieldwork for the study in Tanzania.

Kristy explored the lifestyles of mobile money users and non-users, assessing the barriers that still exist for underserved women in Tanzania, and exploring opportunities for empowering more women to use mobile financial services.

Watch Kristy share her in-field experience in this video interview. Kristy also shares her experiences in a guest contribution on Mobile Payments Today , the second in a five-part series exploring mobile financial services in developing economies.

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Posted by: Douglas Sabo, Visa Corporate Responsibility on February 7, 2013 at 9:19 am

Dec 11, 2012

Empowering Women through Mobile Financial Services: Stories from the Field

Today, half the world’s adult population (2.5 billion) lacks access to basic financial services – the majority of which are women.[1] With the rapid spread of cell phones, mobile financial services offer a unique opportunity to help close this gender gap.

At Visa we’re working with banks, governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to provide the financially underserved with secure, reliable and affordable financial services at scale. To that end, Visa has partnered with GSMA’s mWomen Programme (GSMA) and Bankable Frontier Associates (BFA) to understand the wants and needs of women for mobile financial services in Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, and Tanzania.

Mobile technology in the hands of women can provide access to life-enhancing services, but studies have shown that there is a demonstrated gender gap in mobile phone ownership and usage. In Pakistan, for example, only 12 percent of the total population has a bank account, and those who do are primarily men. In contrast, mobile phone usage hovers around 70 percent. This research will identify how to bridge that gap – connecting women to the mobile financial services they desperately need to enter the financial mainstream.

To learn more about women’s banking experiences in Pakistan, watch this video from the field and visit Mobile Payments Today for a guest contribution from Fundamo’s Aletha Ling and GSMA’s Chris Locke.

To read more about Visa’s commitment to financial inclusion and its mission to be the best way to pay and be paid, for everyone, everywhere click here.


[1] Half the World is Unbanked, Financial Access Initiative

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Posted by: Douglas Sabo, Visa Corporate Responsibility on December 11, 2012 at 8:52 am

Aug 16, 2012

Visa Competes for a Voice at SXSW: Vote Now!

While South by Southwest (SXSW), the annual convention in Austin that brings together the best in music, independent film and emerging technologies, isn’t for several months, we have a favor to ask.

SXSW is the premier destination for the “who’s who” of technology and innovation, and payments is a hot topic. Visa submitted three compelling future of payments-related panels for SXSW’s Interactive Festival that will discuss how technology is going to impact the way you pay and get paid in the next coming years and we need your help to get us in!

Each year the SXSW community – which includes you – is invited to vote on the agenda. Your vote dictates thirty percent of the overall selection criteria, so make your vote count and choose Visa.

Voting closes on August 31st, so we only have two weeks left. Here is what you need to do:

  • Register: To vote, you have to register. All that’s required is your name and an email address. Fill out the form, hit submit, and an email verification will be sent to you. Even if you registered last year, you need to re-register this year.
  • Socialize your Vote:  Want your vote to go the extra mile? Include comments. The quality of feedback is also weighed in the voting process, so make sure you log in via your favorite social network and share what you think. We want your feedback to help shape the panels.

See Visa panels and click to vote once registered!

Shirt? Skirt? Latte? How We’ll Pay in 2020 

We’ve seen our payment systems continuously evolve over the last century. Today, we’re about to embark on another major milestone in the payment industry – and an entirely new group of stakeholders has been shaking up the conversation: digital wallet service providers. During this panel, we’ll bring together various financial “disruptors” as well as traditional payment leaders, who’ll discuss and provide insight on how payments have evolved and what they will look like in the next decade. The panel will go in depth about new technologies that are revolutionizing our payment systems and how and when consumers and merchants will fully adapt them in their everyday lives.

Click here to vote for ‘Shirt? Skirt? How We’ll Pay in 2020′

 

From Mom and Pop to Y-Not Shops

The GenY crowd is said to be the most entrepreneurial in history. Technology is now the great enabler for all businesses, but Generation Y entrepreneurs have an added advantage: a lifetime of exposure to interactive digital devices has given them an enviable comfort level with new technology and the ability to intuitively navigate and exploit the Internet.  During this panel, we’ll bring together young, emerging entrepreneurs with well-known small business advocates to explain why mom-and-pop shops are no longer that. It is the young entrepreneur who is setting up shops these days, whether it is a food truck, the latest app, or a time-saving technology.

Click here to vote for ‘From Mom and Pop to Y-Not Shops

 

Mobile Money – Trust, Probability and the Future of Payments

Technology companies, financial institutions, payment networks and mobile network operators are working to transform the lives of consumers and are counting mobile technology to offer new financial services and electronic payments that promise to impact our lives.  As the industry claims that consumers will have choices like never before, what does the definitive future actually entail? How are consumers going to start? This panel will answer everything you want and need to know about mobile payments: Where the technology currently stands, what options will come to fruition and what will need to happen to get us there.

Click here to vote for ‘Mobile Money – Tryst, Probability and the Future of Payments

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Posted by: Lucas Mast, Visa Corporate Relations on August 16, 2012 at 6:51 pm

Aug 14, 2012

CNN’s “Marketplace Africa” Talks Mobile Technology With Visa’s Elizabeth Buse

Elizabeth Buse, Visa’s Group President, APCEMEA, recently sat down with CNN’s “Marketplace Africa” to discuss the importance of mobile technology in reaching the unbanked.

In the segment, Buse also explains Visa’s distinguishing characteristics in comparison to other mobile money programs and the role that financial education plays in enabling people to take full advantage of having access to financial services.

Watch the segment here:

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Posted by: Lucas Mast, Visa Corporate Relations on August 14, 2012 at 9:12 am