Mobile Phone Banking and Low-Income Customers: Evidence from South Africa

Report

A study from CGAP, the UN Foundation and the Vodafone Group Foundation, published in January 2006 and written by Gautam Ivatury and Mark Pickens, on mobile phone banking in South Africa. It is based on interviews with 515 low-income South Africans: 215 customers of WIZZIT, a branchless mobile banking service, and 300 people who did not use it. The 19-page paper sets out who is using mobile banking and how it fits alongside the other financial services open to people on low incomes, offering early evidence for banks, operators and policymakers considering similar services elsewhere.