Splash customers use the service by visiting a Splash agent location, including branches of GT Bank. Customers transfer money by completing a free registration, purchasing SplashCash(TM) and sending it by text to any Zain or Africell mobile phone. The recipient then exchanges the SplashCash for cash at any agent location. Agents are currently concentrated in Freetown, Bo, and Makeni, with many more locations due to open throughout Sierra Leone before the end of the year.

“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.

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.

Customers of DOCOMO’s i-mode mobile Internet service on the FOMA 3G network will be able to remit up to 20,000 yen (about 208 U.S. dollars) per transfer, basically just by inputting the payee’s mobile phone number. The payee receives a mail notification via their DOCOMO mobile phone and is given the option of depositing the money in a domestic bank account or having the amount credited to their monthly DOCOMO phone bill. The payee can receive remittances totaling up to 200,000 yen (about 2,080 U.S. dollars) per month.

In addition to anytime, anywhere convenience, DOCOMO’s mobile remittance service does not require the payee to register for the service or open a new bank account. In addition, since the payer basically only requires the payee’s phone number to make the remittance, the payee does not have to divulge any private banking details.

The charges per payment (including consumption tax) will be 105 yen for the payer and 65 yen for the payee. The payee is not charged, however, if the remittance is deposited into a Mizuho Bank account or credited to their monthly DOCOMO phone bill.

The Zap service provides Zain customers access to a full range of transactional services from their mobile phones. Customers can interact with select bank accounts, top-up or transfer airtime, and move money to businesses, friends and family. The service allows customers to pay bills such as electricity, and can even be used to settle grocery bills in the supermarket. Zap has been operational in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for several months, making mobile banking services available to more than 100 million people in East Africa. Zain has announced plans to introduce Zap in 22 markets.

Once the Western Union service is launched with Zain, consumers will be able to send cash money transfers from participating Western Union locations around the globe in the same way they do today. Zap customers who are enrolled in the service in select countries will be able to choose whether they want to receive their money in cash at a Western Union Agent location or in accounts tied to their mobile phones (their “mobile wallets”).

Money-transfer receivers who receive funds in their mobile wallets will be able to pay bills, buy airtime or cash out through the Zap service at more than 12,000 Zap agent locations in East Africa.

[via intomobile]

“We’re thrilled to unveil BOKU. Our vision is to provide a new industry standard for mobile payments, bringing ease, accessibility and security to the market,” stated Mark Britto, CEO for BOKU. “The strength of these two acquisitions and our recent financing will help us strategically to enable global consumer adoption and accelerate global carrier coverage.”

“MTN MobileMoney” is a SIM-based, version of Fundamo’s Mobile Wallet Solution ver 3.1, specifically designed to meet the needs of MTN’s subscriber base. Using HSM technologies that offer ATM level security, and a PIN system that prevents sensitive information from residing on the handset, users are entirely safeguarding against theft and fraud.

The solution is also fully compliant with all banking and FICA regulations, enabling banks to login to the system and manage the banking elements of the service while MTN focuses on customer acquisition and retention.

“MTN MobileMoney” doesn’t require users to setup a bank account, instead offering a variety of services; from money transfer, mobile payments and balance checking to mobile purchases, and the ability to buy airtime in real-time. Users have the option to receive a branded “MTN MobileMoney” debit card that can be used to withdraw cash from ATMs.

The trial will make it possible for Kasikornbank customers to walk into a store that accepts contactless payments and to purchase goods simply by waving a NFC mobile phone over the contactless reader at the point of sale. Purchases will be charged directly to the customer’s Kasikornbank credit card account.

Participants in the Kasikornbank mobile payment trial will use their NFC-enabled Nokia 6212 mobile devices to make purchases at more than 1,000 existing merchant locations in Thailand. Near Field Communication (NFC) is a short-range wireless connectivity standard that enables intuitive, simple and safe communication between NFC compatible devices. Products with built-in NFC capability can simplify the way consumer devices interact with one another, helping people to receive and share information and make fast and secure payments.

Venyon’s role in the first stage of the Kasikornbank mobile payment trial is a services partner and in future stages a Trusted Service Manager (TSM). TSM provides neutral and trusted services to service providers, such as banks, retailers and transit operators, and to mobile network operators to enable third party NFC applications to be provisioned over the air (OTA) to the NFC-enabled phones and SIM cards.

The platform support personalize financial needs such as account inquiries, money transfers, bill payments, utility payments and e-ticketing on their mobile phones, which will eliminate the need to go to banks or carry bank cards. In addition to mobile banking, the platform also provides business-to-consumer (B2C) solutions for merchants that include merchant membership cards, electronic couponing and prepaid cards.

In addition to the end-user mobile solutions for banking and merchandising needs, Motorola’s mobile commerce offering also includes a back-end management platform. The back-end management platform, part of the Motorola’s Service Delivery Framework called GAMA (Global Application Management Architecture), is interoperable with back-office network elements for OSS/BSS for mobile network operators, financial institutions and merchants.

The M-Wallet solution with K-Java technology for UMPay’s Mobile Wallet is Motorola’s first M-Commerce platform launched in China. Mobile users only need to download and install the M-Wallet application on their mobile phones that support Java technology, and register their banking accounts to the mobile phones via UMPay.

“About half of all purchases made by consumers last year were made with cash,” notes ABI Research senior analyst Mark Beccue. “Consumers would in many cases prefer cashless transactions when away from home. So around the world solutions providers have leveraged SMS, mobile Internet and downloadable mobile applications to enable mobile commerce and payments. ABI Research calculates the potential revenue in 2013 from mobile transactions using these methods at about $18 billion: a significant opportunity for payment processors.” 

A new ABI Research study examines the potential for mobile payments in four key vertical markets that will drive adoption: taxis, parking, movies, and Internet shopping. While the latter is usually done using credit cards anyway, the first three are areas in which mobile payments could replace cash transactions. The research found that Internet shopping would account for almost three quarters of this mobile commerce revenue in 2013. A further 15% would come from parking, with the balance split about evenly between taxi fares and movie tickets. 

Beccue concludes, “Companies already seizing this mobile payment opportunity include parking solutions provider Verrus, Bharti Airtel and movie theater operators in India, and notably eBay and Amazon – the world’s largest e-commerce merchants – which have enthusiastically embraced mobile transactions with very comprehensive offerings.” 

The new ABI Research study “Mobile Commerce and Payments” examines several emerging markets in which consumers are or will be using their mobile devices to purchase goods or services using SMS and mobile Internet. It highlights important players within the space, suggests who should play and who will benefit, and outlines what MNOs, merchants, and financial services providers can do to take advantage of these opportunities.

The initiative uses Western Union’s trusted global “hub” for processing cross-border remittances. It builds on the M-PESA, a mobile money transfer service in Kenya offered by Vodafone and sister company Safaricom, which has attracted over 4 million customers since its launch in March 2007.

The pilot will take place through a select number of Western Union agents based in Reading, Berkshire. Consumers can send funds to any Safaricom mobile subscriber in Kenya in a matter of minutes. Receivers can use their funds in a variety of ways, including visiting one of 4,000 M-PESA agents in Kenya to withdraw their cash, or forwarding it on to another mobile phone in Kenya.