Nokia today introduced Nokia Money, a new mobile
financial service offering consumers with mobile device access to
basic financial services. For many consumers, this will be the first
time they have had any access to such financial services.
Nokia Money has been designed to be as simple and convenient as
making a voice call or sending an SMS. It will enable consumers to
send money to another person just by using the person's mobile phone
number, as well as to pay merchants for goods and services, pay their
utility bills, or recharge their prepaid SIM cards (SIM top-up). The
services can be accessed 24 hours a day from anywhere, meaning
savings in travel costs and time. Nokia is building a wide network of
Nokia Money agents, where consumers can deposit money in or withdraw
cash from their accounts.
4 billion mobile phones but only 1.6 billion bank accounts
"We believe mobile financial services offer a market opportunity with
long term growth potential. In many countries, mobile phone ownership
significantly exceeds bank account usage, suggesting that many mobile
phone users have very limited or no access to basic financial
services. With more than 4 billion mobile phone users and only 1.6
billion bank accounts, global demand for access to financial services
presents a strong opportunity to combine mobile devices with simple
but powerful financial services such as Nokia Money", said Mary
McDowell, EVP and Chief Development Officer, Nokia.
Mobile payments will be the next step for delivering financial
services to hundreds of millions of people, both urban and rural, who
are underserved by existing payment means, especially in emerging
economies.
"Rural consumers will particularly benefit from money transfers and,
for urban consumers used to online services, we are enabling services
such as payment of utility bills, purchase of train and movie
tickets, top-ups, all through their mobile phones. Nokia Money is
simple to use, secure and available across different operator
networks and on virtually any mobile phone. This means millions of
new consumers will soon be able to manage all their financial needs
from their mobile phone", said Teppo Paavola, VP and Head of
Corporate Business Development, Nokia.
Building a new ecosystem for mobile payments
The Nokia Money service will be operated in cooperation with Obopay,
a leader in developing global mobile payment solutions, which Nokia
invested in earlier this year. The service is based on Obopay's
mobile payment platform, with unique and newly developed mobile
elements. Nokia intends the service to be open and interoperable with
other payment services as well.
"Obopay shares Nokia's vision for bringing mobile financial services
to millions of people worldwide. We're excited that Nokia has chosen
Obopay's platform. Nokia's leading market position, strong brand
recognition and global distribution channel, using the Obopay
platform with uniquely developed mobile elements, means the Nokia
Money service is well positioned to bring the next generation of
mobile payment services to the world," said Carol Realini, Founder
and CEO of Obopay.
Nokia Money is the result of a powerful collaboration Nokia is
forging between different partners in different markets around the
world. It is designed to work in partnership with mobile network
operators and financial institutions, involving distributors and
merchants in a dynamic ecosystem to seamlessly provide the new
services.
"As a result of the innovative partnerships and comprehensive
ecosystem we are forging with the banking and financial industry, as
well as leading network operators, we believe Nokia Money will bring
financial inclusion to many who currently have limited or no access
to financial services. Uniting the strengths of the mobile and
financial services industries will change the way people around the
world can manage their money in the future", added McDowell.
"Mobile financial services present a high growth sector for Nokia.
Nokia's asset strengths, including consumer brand awareness,
distribution capabilities and global relationships should serve as
logical and necessary extensions to drive innovation in the mobile
payments and banking sector. To be successful Nokia must provide a
legitimate bridge between operators, banks networks and security
infrastructure in order to unlock the broad uptake of mobile
financial services," said Bob Egan, Global Head of Research and Chief
Analyst, Towergroup.
The Nokia Money service will be shown for the first time at Nokia
World on the 2nd and 3rd of September 2009 in Stuttgart, Germany, and
it is planned to be rolled out gradually to selected markets,
beginning in early 2010.
About Nokia
Nokia is a pioneer in mobile telecommunications and the world's
leading maker of mobile devices. Today, we are connecting people in
new and different ways - fusing advanced mobile technology with
personalized services to enable people to stay close to what matters
to them. We also provide comprehensive digital map information
through NAVTEQ; and equipment, solutions and services for
communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.
