GSMA, Western Union combine forces on money transfer

Western Union and the GSMA say they are developing a commercial and technical framework that mobile operators can use to deploy services that enable consumers to send and receive low-denomination, high frequency money transfers using their mobile phones. The first commercial services that make use of the framework are anticipated to be rolled-out beginning in the second quarter of 2008. 

The framework combines Western Union’s mobile strategy and the GSMA’s Mobile Money Transfer program. “Mobile money transfer services will make it simple, quick and affordable for more people to send small amounts of money through a conventional and regulated system. Both Western Union and the GSMA believe there is an opportunity to create and grow a large new market for low-denomination transfers,” the two said in a statement. 

“Mobile networks now cover more than 80 per cent of the world’s population and three billion people have a mobile phone, creating an unprecedented opportunity to extend the benefits of financial services to the majority of the world’s families for the first time,” said Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA.