Mobile Money

While the Internet Silk Road Initiative does not have any applied research projects in the mobile money field, we have done some investigative research into the regulatory aspects of mobile banking and the potential for technology-assisted alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. Our desk research on mobile banking in Afghanistan was featured in the United Nations Commission for Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s Information Economy Report, 2010: ICTs, Enterprises and Poverty Alleviation [click the title to download the report]. In our research on mobile money, we focused on the emerging mobile banking industry in Afghanistan, led by Afghan telecom company, Roshan’s M-Paisa service. Below are links to several other research initiatives (unrelated to ISR) which we have found especially on-point in this field.

Mobile Money Afghanistan

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Other great resources on mobile money:

CGAP [the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor] conducts and funds a great deal of research on mobile money and micro-finance across the Southern Hemisphere. Their articles and reports on mobile money are both informative and in-depth, addressing both the benefits and challenges of this method of banking the unbanked.