Senior bankers said that since customer’s level of expectations has shot up because of the global credit crunch, financial institutions and telecom firms need reliable banking services on mobile phones.
The UAE, with around 80% of the population belonging to expatriates and a high telecom penetration, has huge potential to get the benefits of remittances through mobile payments.
According to Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of UAE, in the first nine months of 2009, mobile subscribers have neared 10 million, pushing the penetration rate to 221% from 72% in 2002.
Vimal Kumar, SVP and head of card business at Mashreq, said: “Banks and mobile phone companies have to collaborate to bring smarter technologies because the demand for simple and easy payment is going to come from consumer side. We are quite behind compared to advanced countries such as the US and Europe and one of the fundamental issues is lack of security.”
Trevor Stokes, executive director of business development at Bahrain Economic Development Board, said: “Mobile payment would be a combined effort of banks, telecom providers and card companies and consumers would be the main beneficiaries of this service.
“It’s a long-term opportunity for all the stakeholders in the Middle East. Opportunities exists for outsourcing, mergers and for rapid new innovative products in ?this region,” reported the newspaper.
