Myanmar mobile banking and payment: where to start?

Myanmar is currently largely a cash economy.  In this post we consider the types of mobile banking and payments solutions we predict will first gain traction in the Myanmar market: remittance services and banking the unbanked. Outside Myanmar, the way people bank and pay has been revolutionised: from the introduction of credit cards, telephone banking and …

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International bar association debates mobile payment

Mobile payment is a topic close to my heart, so I am delighted to be joining a distinguished panel at the International Bar Association‘s annual conference in Dubai this afternoon to discuss developments in mobile payment from a comparative perspective. The session is being run jointly by the communications, banking and technology committees of the IBA …

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UK mobile operators create m-commerce joint venture

Last week, three of the UK’s four mobile network operators announced a mobile marketing and payments joint venture. The venture is subject to regulatory approval, and is summarised in the press release as: Creation of a single ecosystem for m-commerce helping advertisers, retailers and banks to reach consumers through their mobile phones Consumers will be …

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Visa adds mobile payment and banking capabilities, as Google and MNOs launch contactless payment services

This week Visa Inc added significant incremental mobile payment and banking capabilities – acquiring Fundamo, a mobile money transfer software company and announcing a five year deal with Monitise. The Fundamo deal is designed to bolster Visa’s position in developing markets where the mobile operators are increasingly able to leverage the lack of a traditional banking infrastructure and their …

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Mobile banking and payment: what consumers really want?

Mobile banking and payment is a recurrent theme for this blog. I have previously posted on rumours that the iPhone 5 might contain NFC technology, and mused on the possibilities unlocked by the integration of mobile payments with location-based offers and services. This week sees both the publication of the (Monitise sponsored) Future Foundation’s research on emerging trends in …

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Lenders over-exposed to real estate move into TMT

I was lucky enough to chair Olswang’s semi-annual CPD catch-up day for in-house lawyers today. It was a very interesting set of talks (for those who are interested I commented using twitter, see: #olswangcpd), which covered a wide range of topics: Session Speaker biographies Materials Employment update: the latest red tape changes and other hot topics (Daniel Aherne, …

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Premium rate regulation extended across the value chain from 1 September 2011

News item topics are like buses – nothing happens for weeks or months, then everything happens at once. Following yesterday’s publication of the Phonepayplus annual plan and a market study, today Ofcom approved Phonepayplus’ 12th edition of its Code of Practice, which will become effective from 1 September 2011. For those not familiar with UK …

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Phonepayplus publishes market trends report and 2011/12 plan

Phonepayplus, the UK’s premium rate services regulator, has today published: a Report on Emerging Trends in the Premium Rate Services Market; and its plan and budget for the forthcoming year. Report on Emerging Trends in the Premium Rate Services Market Phonepayplus commissioned the report from Analysys Mason and deals with services which are billed via a consumer’s telephone bill. The …

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