Text-A-Deposit: Expanding Mobile-Phone Banking to Include Savings Services

Publication Date: 2007
Published by: Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)
Document Type: Other (PDF)

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A look at USAID's MABS program that facilitates mobile phone technology for remittances

This paper examines the potential of mobile phone technology to expand poor people’s access to savings. It describes USAID’s MABS Program called Text-A-Deposit that uses mobile phone technology to enable sending of remittances. It is increasingly being used by clients to access and save more in their savings accounts. Globe Telecom’s G-Cash program works like an electronic wallet, allowing users to load electronic cash onto their cell phone and then spend it on bills or transfers using SMS. The paper demonstrates the potential that these services have to expand poor peoples’ access to savings.