Mobile Financial Services in Developing Countries: The Impact on Consumer Financial Behaviour

Mobile Financial Services in Developing Countries: The Impact on Consumer Financial Behaviour

Gordian Stanslaus Bwemelo (College of Business Education, Tanzania)
Copyright: © 2018 |Pages: 17
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-4029-8.ch003

Abstract

This chapter describes how mobile technologies have recently emerged as the new wave in Information Technology revolution and are constantly gaining importance and popularity in nearly every avenue of our working and social lives. One area of mobile technology that has become a focus in recent times is the use of mobile devices particularly the mobile phones for an array of financial services. Mobile financial services and their massive adoption and rapid spread in the developing world, has deepened investments in mobile infrastructure and has further contributed to financial inclusion and economic development. Their adoption, in particular, has had a significant impact on consumer financial behaviour. This chapter builds on a rich body of literature available to highlight the impact of mobile financial services on consumer financial behaviour and the implications for financial institutions.
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Background

Mobile phones have increasingly become tools that consumers use to interact with their financial institutions, make payments and manage their personal finance. Consumers are using mobile financial services more and more to access accounts, pay bills, pay tuition fees, deposit funds and manage their financial lives (Maree, Piontak, Omwansa, Shinyekwa & Njenga, 2013). Mobile financial services in developing countries help low-income, unbanked; under banked and economically vulnerable consumers achieve their financial goals.

This section provides an overview and the background of mobile financial services and is divided into three main parts. The first part introduces the concepts related to mobile financial services. The second part provides an overview of its trends and status in developing countries, drawing primarily on information from a few selected countries. The next part discusses how mobile financial services have become successful in the developing countries highlighting on factors that made the services successful.

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