Nokia Money – brining Banking to the masses

At the Mobile World Congress in Nokia’s Experience Lounge at ONCE , I had a chance to meet and discuss about Nokia Money with Mr Gerhard Romen – Director Financial Services Nokia and also Vice Chairman of Nokia NFC Forum .

According to Nokia in the 1^st half 2010 , Nokia Money will be launched in their first country , probably India where they already have Yes Bank on board in conjunction with OBO PAY , with rest of the countries soon to follow .

In starting the mobile money services , Nokia is not looking at replacing Credit and Debit cards but working towards offering a cash less environment with a simple application installed on phone one can conduct money transactions

In my discussion I informed him of my understanding of concept that If a friend asks me for money or I’ve to buy some groceries all I have to do Is simple call up the application and transfer cash . According to Mr Romen this is the second process , first they have to layout the basic steps like Operator interconnection so the service can work across different operators . The example he gave was of SMS that it never took off until it was bound by one network and specific phones , once SMS became universal on every phone and sending between operators became possible than the service took off .

I informed him about the mobile money concept in Pakistan as run by Telenor Easy Paisa and the inter operatibility between banks using the same backend network which impressed him .

According to him , the service can be customized by different banks with branding and offerings and approach can be different but one central system working in the background controlling all so I can send money from Dubai to London in no time but all in accordance to regulations , such as I cannot send 10,000 Pounds as it comes under money laundering etc but I can send a couple of hundered and that’s what Nokia is working on , transfer of small payments so everyone can use it .

About the future of Nokia money , he gave examples of Camera phones which started from Nokia 7650 and how their quality was abysmal but now with the advent of time it has improved , the same is the case with Mapping , virtually non existent when first introduced in E61 , now Nokia is giving out free Navigation .

For now Nokia is working with financial institutions due to various banking regulations associated with transfer of money along with operators to keep up with the local and international regulations as Nokia is not acting as a bank but as a service provider or more like a facilitator in transfer of money .

He proceeded on giving me a demo of Nokia Money and within 9 sec was able to transfer money from one account to another . In the application , Nokia has put in reminders for payments such as club dues and have a system of reconfirmation and pins to avoid unauthorized use and mistakes in transactions .

According to Mr Romen , as per their studies at first it takes around 8 – 10 sec to run a transaction which falls down to 5 sec per transaction much faster and secure than carrying and giving out cash .

The best part of Nokia Money which I , from a developing country found is that , the service is not using 3G or data services , all it’s dependent upon is SMS network with is present everywhere , offers interoperatibility and does not put a load on network nor it’s expensive to use and also Nokia Money provides the following feature set ( from Nokia Money site )

• Always with you: Send money or pay bills without trekking to a branch and queuing or needing a PC, saving you time and effort.
• Manage your money: Keep track of your balance, expenses and payments – know when you receive money and check your finances on the spot.
• Instantly transfer: When you’re in a hurry take advantage of an instant money transfer – send money straight from your mobile.
• Peace of mind: With less need to store or carry cash, you reduce the risk of theft or loss, and you can rely on the latest mobile technology to handle your finances securely.
• Easier access: Now that you don’t have to find a bank or ATM, or struggle with loose change, you can spend your time on the things that matter – like running your business and supporting your family.

Now all I’m waiting for is Nokia Money to launch in Pakistan as Carol Realini of OboPay said on my twitter : “Great meeting you, if only for a minute. I agree Pakistan is a big market for mobile money “ Yes I did get to meet one of the persons I admire the most in brining financial transaction to the masses .

In Pakistan as I think and agree with Carol Realini , there is a big scope as we have a huge under served market by the banks and in a country where we have 97 million mobile subscribers and a couple of million bank accounts so there is a huge potential for services like Nokia Money which enables people to save their money and have ready access to it be it getting back cash or easy transfer among family and friends and as Mr Gerhard Romen says

Nokia is all about connecting people , be it with communication or money

Below is the complete discussion with an overview of Nokia Money in action