Electronic payment methods in Dubai have become more popular and is becoming the preferred mode of payment as the amount generated by these transactions jumped by 55 per cent to Dh1.7 billion in the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2010, according to official data.

Statistics revealed by Dubai eGovernment show that there has been an over 50 per cent increase in amounts collected through its ePay gateway in the first half of 2011 compared to 2010. It enables customers to electronically pay their bills and settle dues for various government services in a safe and secure manner.

A total of Dh1.7 billion — through 1,396,973 transactions — was collected through ePay on behalf of all the participating local entities by the end of June 2011. This compares to a total of Dh1.1 billion through 835,095 transactions in the first half of 2010.

Dubai Customs, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) were the top three government entities, respectively, in terms of the electronically collected amounts, while the DHA, the Roads and Transport Authority and DEWA were the top three government entities in terms of the number of transactions achieved.

“These results clearly indicate the favourable pace of eTransformation in Dubai and also reflect the increasing adoption of ePay as a preferred mode of payment to complete government transactions on one hand and the confidence shown by customers in the efficiency and safety of this option on the other,” Dubai eGovernment Director-General Ahmed bin Humaidan said. “This service allows both corporate and individual customers to complete ePayment for government services either through credit cards or direct debit from the customer’s account in participating banks.” He noted that payment through credit cards was the customers’ top preferred option with the amounts electronically collected through this method reaching nearly Dh1.4 billion.

He also noted the use of direct debit option grew noticeably from 23,000 transactions in the first half of 2010 to 120,000 transactions in the corresponding period this year.

Explaining the role played by Dubai eGovernment in providing the foundation required for completing eTransformation in Dubai as per the highest standards observed worldwide, Bin Humaidan said: “All government departments need certain electronic ingredients and infrastructures to offer high quality and secure online services aimed at attracting customers and encouraging them to adopt the option of completing their transactions online. In line with this, Dubai eGovernment strives to offer the required ingredients in the shape of centralised services and a joint infrastructure, enabling these departments to provide facilitated services to the public while offering them a suitable ground for concentration and innovation in their respective scopes of activity.”

ePay is part of Dubai eGovernment’s initiative aimed at offering online services through innovative channels and providing the public and the business community with an efficient and comfortable mechanism for instant payment of government fees without having to waste time and effort by personally visiting banks or the departments concerned. These channels include among others the Internet and mPay, which was designed as an emergency service, particularly for urgent processes.

Source Courtesy: Khaleejtimes.com

Prosum provides epayments and mobile payments services including Direct Debit / Netbanking, Credit Card, PayPal and Mobile Payments.

This article addresses the send money online UAE customers, but applies as equally true for customers in other parts of the world.

Options to send money online UAE included are increasing continually to suit the demands of today’s busy customers.

Here are some vital points to safeguard your interests when you choose to send money online UAE outwards or from any other place worldwide .

Credibility and Reputation of the send money online uae agent:

If you are using a well known and reputed bank to send money online uae customers or elsewhere are generally considered safe. But if are using a send money online uae agent or in other countries such as an exchange company…..

it pays to check the credibility and reputation of the send money online uae organization.

1) Things to check when you send money online uae outwards or elsewhere include:

* Is the organization approved and licensed by the Central Bank of that country? (100% Must!)

* How many years has the send money online uae organization been in the business of remittances?

* How many branches and employees does the company have?

* Does the send money online uae organization have Correspondent Bank Relationships with leading and reputed banks, including your own bank? (The banks conduct an in-depth due diligence before signing up)

* Has the organization partnered with leading Service Providers such as Moneygram?

* Does the send money online uae organization have an After-Sales Support team and are they easily accessible?

* What are the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions of this organization?

2) Knowledge of the send money online uae staff serving you:

Banks use a lot of codes and other parameters when processing your transactions: SORT, SWIFT, IBAN, IFSC, EFT, RTGS….

As a send money online uae customer, you may or may not know the specific details required for your remittance transaction.

But the staff should! Or, at least, they should be able to get the information from the system and ensure that your transaction is correctly processed.

Various countries, outwards and inwards, have different limits on amounts that may be transferred using different instruments. The send money online uae staff should be able to advise you on such things, too.

Errors in such details can delay processing of your transactions by several days or weeks.

3) Adherence to Send Money Online UAE Regulatory Requirements

While we cover the regulatory requirements in more detail in our blog post titled Understanding AML and KYC Requirements for Remittance Transactions, suffice now it is to know that most regulatory bodies insist on the agent capturing the identity of the sender (you).

This is for your own protection and benefit and should never be avoided. This normally involves just providing your valid ID such as Passport, Driving License etc.

If your send money online uae agent is making it sound unimportant and bypasses these procedures, you are better off staying away from this agent.

4) Send Money Online UAE Customer Options:

Though bank-to-bank transfers (a.k.a wire transfer or telex transfer, etc.) are probably most commonly used, alternate options such as Demand Draft are also quite popular.

Instant Cash Payment services are also increasingly gaining popularity considering the ease and speed of money transfer services.

See if your send money online uae agent has the option that best suits your needs.

5) Competitive Pricing:

In today’s world of technology advancements, good and swift services do not necessarily mean more $$$.

Ensure that your send money online uae agent is giving you the services at competitive rates and charges.

We hope the above points will help you conduct safe and enjoyable money transfers as send money online UAE customers.

Send Money Online UAE outwards now as you relax in your favorite armchair.

When was the last time you spent a relaxed, quality time on something you love? – Your family, a walk in the garden, your favorite game, a novel….?

Good news is that you are not alone in heaving a big sigh!

Most of us in today’s busy world are caught up in our hectic pace of lifestyle. What with work pressures on one side, travel distances and travel times consume a big part of our daily time.

Which brings us to the 1st reason of why you should choose online money transfer in UAE or whether you live in any other part of the world.

1) Save Your Time when you conduct an online money transfer:

A typical scenario for conducting a remittance transaction at a physical local, be it a bank, exchange house or other financial institution, would typically involve the following:
* A visit to your bank or ATM
* Looking for a parking, paying for parking
* Waiting at the queue
* Withdrawing money
* Driving to the exchange house or financial institution
* Looking for a parking, paying for parking
* Waiting at the queue
* Filling Forms
* Paying Cash
* Driving back to your home or office

Calculate your time. How much time does the above take for, and from, you? How much is your time worth?

When you choose to online money transfer, you save the entire cycle of activities listed above and wow, isn’t that something?

online money transfer

You’ll probably make your boss happy by not slipping away for an hour or so everytime you have to do a funds transfer. But more importantly, you will be able to better utilize the time and avoid subsequent “extended hours” at your workplace… Surely, you can think of more pleasant ways to spend that time?

2) Protect Yourself and Your Money by engaging in online money transfer:

Even in the safest places, carrying a wad of cash to a physical location of a money transfer services agent is playing “lead us into temptation”.

During online money transfer, you choose the option to pay your exchange house or online money transfer agent also online without the physical movement of cash.

3) Save Money during online money transfer transactions:

Apart from commuting costs and parking charges, banks or other money transfer services agents such as exchange houses have two important revenue streams when you conduct a remittance: (i) the transaction charge / fee and (ii) the foreign currency exchange (FX) rate.

Naturally, this is a must for they must make profits to sustain and serve you continually.

But online money transfer companies are forced to maintain transparency and usually offer the best charges and rates possible.

Often, online money transfer portals, such as that provided by Prosum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, display the standard FX rate as well the special online FX rate in addition to the money transfer charges. This gives you the ability to “know your deal” before you commit your online money transfer remittance transaction.

4) Have Access to Your Records through online money transfer:

I remember a time when the year-end statement from my bank showed that I had missed an EMI payment of $1200, around 4 months back.

Well, I was 100% sure that I had sent the amount on time, but apparently something had gone amiss somewhere and the money was not credited to my loan account.

Hmm… 4 months having passed, (a) I could recall exactly which money transfer service provider I had used for that particular transaction and (b) if I thought it was some particular company, I did not have the transaction reference.

Long story short, I lost the money.

Online money transfer portals, such as Prosum, usually provide for transaction history for registered members, so you can relax in the thought that you can pull out the transaction records anytime, anywhere.

5) Enjoy the Service Levels You Receive during online money transfer:

Many times, unfortunately, we witness the counter staff at physical locations such as banks and exchange houses being rude to customers. True, they can be tired and spent, but how do you feel as a customer when they behave rudely?

And what is also true is that many staff, when it comes to international remittances, lack in detailed product knowledge and options available, nor may they respect the accent of the customer.

Well, when you engage in online money transfer, you are assured of a consistent level of service from your computer screen, and that, to many of us, could mean a lot by itself, right?

Good luck with your Online Money Transfer experiences.

Try online money transfer in UAE and check out the Comfort and Convenience of Online Money Transfer Now.

Good news is that you are not alone in heaving a big sigh!

Most of us in today’s busy world are caught up in our hectic pace of lifestyle. What with work pressures on one side, travel distances and travel times consume a big part of our daily time.

Which brings us to the 1st reason why you should choose online money transfer.

1) Save Your Time:

A typical scenario for conducting a remittance transaction at a physical local, be it a bank, exchange house or other financial institution, would typically involve the following:
* A visit to your bank or ATM
* Looking for a parking, paying for parking
* Waiting at the queue
* Withdrawing money
* Driving to the exchange house or financial institution
* Looking for a parking, paying for parking
* Waiting at the queue
* Filling Forms
* Paying Cash
* Driving back to your home or office

Calculate your time. How much time does the above take for, and from, you? How much is your time worth?

When you choose to send money online, you save the entire cycle of activities listed above and wow, isn’t that something?

As a 24×7 service, this service gives the Anytime, Anywhere convenience, so you choose the best time that suits YOU.

You’ll probably make your boss happy by not slipping away for an hour or so everytime you have to do a funds transfer. But more importantly, you will be able to better utilize the time and avoid subsequent “extended hours” at your workplace… Surely, you can think of more pleasant ways to spend that time?

2) Protect Yourself and Your Money:

Even in the safest places, carrying a wad of cash to a physical location of a money transfer services agent is playing “lead us into temptation”.

Send Money Online, and you choose the option to pay your exchange house or money transfer services agent also online without the physical movement of cash.

3) Save Money:

Apart from commuting costs and parking charges, banks or other money transfer services agents such as exchange houses have two important revenue streams when you conduct a remittance: (i) the transaction charge / fee and (ii) the foreign currency exchange (FX) rate.

Naturally, this is a must for they must make profits to sustain and serve you continually.

But online money transfer companies are forced to maintain transparency and usually offer the best charges and rates possible.

Often, online money transfer portals, such as that provided by Prosum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, display the standard FX rate as well the special online FX rate in addition to the money transfer charges. This gives you the ability to “know your deal” before you commit your remittance transaction.

4) Have Access to Your Records:

I remember a time when the year-end statement from my bank showed that I had missed an EMI payment of $1200, around 4 months back.

Well, I was 100% sure that I had sent the amount on time, but apparently something had gone amiss somewhere and the money was not credited to my loan account.

Hmm… 4 months having passed, (a) I could recall exactly which money transfer service provider I had used for that particular transaction and (b) if I thought it was some particular company, I did not have the transaction reference.

Long story short, I lost the money.

Online Remittance portals, such as Prosum, usually provide for transaction history for registered members, so you can relax in the thought that you can pull out the transaction records anytime, anywhere.

5) Enjoy the Service Levels Your Receive:

Many times, unfortunately, we witness the counter staff at physical locations such as banks and exchange houses being rude to customers. True, they can be tired and spent, but how do you feel as a customer when they behave rudely?

And what is also true is that many staff, when it comes to international remittances, lack in detailed product knowledge and options available, nor may they respect the accent of the customer.

Well, when you send money online, you are assured of a consistent level of service from your computer screen, and that, to many of us, could mean a lot by itself, right?

Good luck with your Online Money Transfer experiences.

Check out the Comfort and Convenience of Online Money Transfer Now.

Here is an excellent article, truly worth reading – and sharing – courtesy, mckinseyquarterly.com

Correspondent banking has become one of the most promising strategies for offering financial services in emerging markets. In this model, financial institutions work with networks of existing non- bank retail outlets — such as convenience stores, gas stations, and post offices — to deliver financial services.

This approach can be especially powerful when serving the unbanked poor because of its ability to reduce banks’ cost-to-serve and reach low-income workers where they live. In Brazil, where the strategy has enjoyed its greatest successes, about 1,600 municipalities (approximately one-third of the total) are served solely by correspondent-banking outlets.

Correspondent (or agent) banking benefits a range of stakeholders. The poor gain convenient access to financial services in their own communities. Financial institutions reach a vast new customer segment. Agents increase their sales volumes and have an opportunity to develop deeper relationships with customers.

But implementing correspondent strategies can be tough. It may be hard to build networks of partners that can fulfill the correspondent role. The economics are still uncertain for players that don’t offer a range of services. And because the strategy is relatively new for financial-services providers, it is difficult to know exactly what will work in each particular community.

Through our research and experience working with pioneering providers, we have identified four guiding principles to help organizations implement correspondent strategies successfully: (1) move quickly to capture early-entrant advantages, (2) build partner networks rigorously, (3) create diversified product offerings, and (4) conduct pilots that can be rapidly implemented and constantly refined.

These principles have enabled organizations to establish sustainable operations that dramatically increased the use of financial services by the poor. Four years after Brazil, for instance, passed legislation enabling the expansion of correspondent banking, providers had extended formal financial services to every municipality (about a third of which previously did not have any outlets offering formal banking services). In Mexico, a program of electronic transfers through the country’s Diconsa stores, which sell food and other basic goods in the poorest and most rural communities, reached 200,000 households within two years of being launched and could reach two million to three million more. Kenya’s M-Pesa, a highly successful mobile-payment provider, has developed a network of over 16,000 agent points since 2007. They operate like correspondent outlets, putting most citizens within reach of a physical location providing cash-in, cash-out services.

Reaching out through correspondents

A majority of the emerging markets’ 2.2 billion low-income workers who do not use financial services live in areas that are difficult and expensive to serve. Most of these communities lack bank branches but do have other retail outlets, such as convenience and grocery stores, gas stations, lottery kiosks, pharmacies, or post offices.

Correspondent banking enables financial-services providers to reach these communities through existing retail outlets that potential customers use for other purposes. People know the businesses, since they already frequent them for other purposes — for instance, purchasing groceries or fuel or picking up mail. They may even have developed a level of comfort with the proprietor and the staff. That could make customers likelier to entrust such a retailer with their finances.

This correspondent strategy is effective because it enables organizations to establish a physical presence near their customers without building new branches and thus to expand their reach dramatically at a lower cost. Providers do not have to incur the expense of building new branches and can share fixed outlays with their retail partners. Correspondent models therefore have lower average costs per transaction than traditional bank branches do.

The World Bank’s Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) estimates that the average overall monthly cost to customers of using correspondent and mobile phone–based models is 19 percent lower than the cost of these services in traditional branches—and up to 50 percent lower for some products, such as medium-term savings and bill payment.

We came to similar conclusions in our own research. In Mexico, the all-in cost of offering savings accounts (including marketing, opening an account, and per-transaction costs) through correspondent outlets is about 25 percent lower than offering them through traditional branches (exhibit). Correspondent models thus help organizations serve low-income consumers at a lower cost, which is particularly important because people in the segment typically transact in small sums.

The use of correspondent agents is leading to a significant expansion of low-income workers’ physical access to financial services:

* Brazil: In 2000, nearly 30 percent of Brazil’s municipalities had no access to formal financial services. But between 1999 and 2003, the government revised its regulations to allow correspondent banking and facilitated its expansion by improving the country’s interbank transfer system. By 2004, every municipality in Brazil had access to formal financial services, and about 1,600 (one in four) were served only by the correspondent network.

* Mexico: More than 5,000 correspondent outlets, supported by 11 banks, have sprung up since the government authorized correspondent banking in late 2009. The government is using it to build a basic financial-services offering through more than half of the 23,000 state-owned Diconsa stores. Since 2009, a pilot program using point-of-sale devices and fingerprint-based identity cards has delivered government payments to nearly 200,000 households. Mexico’s government could use the network to reach two million or more beneficiaries4 and to add savings and insurance to the range of services it provides.

* Kenya: M-Pesa, a successful mobile-money transfer service in Kenya, depends on physical locations that operate like correspondent outlets to give users quick and convenient opportunities to withdraw or deposit cash. Its approach involves exchanging cash for float (in an electronic form issued by the mobile operator) at one of the organization’s 16,000 retail outlets, also known as agent points. This capability is a critical component of all mobile-financial-services offerings, since consumers must be able to convert digital funds to cash, and it is much more cost effective for providers to fulfill this need by tapping into existing physical networks than to build their own from scratch.

Formidable challenges

Correspondent banking can have a significant impact. But in many markets, the window of greatest opportunity may be open for only a short time, and the uncertainties related to implementation are not trivial.

Some small communities have very few retail outlets, for example, and those few may belong to small operators with little or no reach across regions. Opportunities to strike partnerships may be limited.

Identifying the right retail partner can be hard, in particular because most financial institutions have no experience operating in non-financial retail contexts. As a result, they may find it difficult to determine which retailers have the necessary relationships with customers or struggle with how to build the reach that would deliver sufficient volume to justify the investment.

The economics can be challenging, especially for institutions that do not have diversified product offerings. Revenues generated by the small accounts and the cost of the frequent transactions typical of the working poor make it difficult for providers to generate sustainable returns through savings and payment services alone.

Perhaps above all else, correspondent banking is still relatively new in the context of financial inclusion. The rules of the game vary by geography, and the game itself changes as the strategy develops: competition is increasing, the regulatory landscape is shifting, and customer attitudes are evolving. While uncertainty opens opportunities for innovative institutions, it also presents risks, particularly for companies that can’t refine their approaches by incorporating what they learn during implementation.

Guidelines for success

Correspondent banking is one of several models that should be deployed to advance the cause of financial inclusion. Traditional microfinance institutions and branch-based models will continue to be important but on their own cannot provide the scale needed to reach the vast population that does not use formal financial channels.

The success of organizations in countries such as Brazil, Kenya, and Mexico suggests a path for the next generation of correspondent-banking models. Drawing on these experiences, as well as on our research, we have identified four guidelines that can help organizations implement successful correspondent strategies.

Move quickly to capture early-entrant advantages

Moving early is risky, particularly because the pioneers often incur hefty development costs that laggards avoid. But we believe that the risks (which of course must be managed) are justified in the case of correspondent banking because early entrants may sew up the most attractive partners before later competitors arrive.

Success in correspondent banking — a play for scale in a low-margin business—depends on the ability to develop an extensive network of retail outlets in underserved communities. The fewer partners the better, since complexity can overwhelm institutions that must manage too many relationships. The most efficient correspondent operations involve partnerships between one financial institution and one distribution network that has extensive reach across the entire relevant geography.

Early entrants often have the greatest freedom to select the best partners, leaving followers to patch together networks of smaller chains and independents—more difficult to manage and more expensive to operate. Early entrants also have an opportunity to build the first formal relationships with their low-income customers, which may create loyalty that proves beneficial when competitors emerge. Even in markets such as India, where large-scale partners with broad reach are hard to come by, early movers can pick the most attractive smaller players to join their networks. (Moving early may be less advantageous, however, in markets that limit exclusive relationships between financial-services providers and distribution partners.)

In Brazil, the bank Bradesco gained a significant advantage in 2001 by quickly securing exclusive access to distribute financial services through the agencies of the country’s post office, Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos. That gave the company a network of 5,532 post offices, including more than 1,700 in municipalities that lacked banks. Through Banco Postal, a wholly owned subsidiary, Bradesco extended correspondent services to the entire network in just five years.

Build the partner network rigorously

Financial institutions must take into account a range of factors when picking retail partners. Reach is one of the most important, but others, such as cost-to-serve and local consumer trust, also play a role.

Providers can use a cost curve analysis to understand the relative expense and potential reach of different channels in different communities of varying population densities. Such an analysis of the Mexican market suggests that correspondent banking would be a good way to expand capacity in large cities and the only viable option in small villages. But it would be more difficult in midsize towns where large retail networks are scarce. This kind of evidence can help financial institutions understand how to configure a correspondent network so they can find retail partners that provide the appropriate reach into the communities they want to serve.

Trust can also be an important factor, particularly early in the effort. The case of Diconsa, in Mexico, bears out the point that existing retail outlets often have relationships with target customers, who may therefore be more likely to trust the retailer to act as their financial representative. Diconsa stores are owned cooperatively by the communities where they are located, and community members elect the storekeepers. This cultural context is an important success factor for Diconsa. In the village of San Miguel Tecpan (which has a population of 800 people), for example, Elba Arias has served as storekeeper since she was elected, 14 years ago, creating a familiarity that makes correspondent banking easier. In her words, “the same way I sell corn, rice, and canned tuna, I sell savings accounts.” Up to a third of Elba’s current customers now make transactions.

Organizations can build trust over time by providing a consistently high-quality experience. Those that already operate correspondent networks and have a good reputation with the customer base may gain trust more easily when they open new correspondent locations. Likewise, financial institutions that are starting up networks may benefit from identifying and prioritizing partners that have good relationships with target consumers to increase the likelihood of their using correspondent services once they are available.
Create diversified product offerings

Providers must develop product offerings that not only attract consumers but also generate sufficient value to sustain banking operations. Correspondent partnerships that offer more than bill-payment services and savings accounts are likelier to thrive than those that do not.

In addition to savings accounts, providers should consider offering four promising services: government payments, domestic remittances, international remittances, and direct deposits. Each offers significant value for customers, and they also enable providers to generate value through transaction fees and lay the basis for them to provide other services in the future.

CGAP estimates that at least 170 million poor people worldwide get regular payments from their governments, either as social transfers or as small salaries and pensions. Less than 25 percent of the recipients get the payments in a “financially inclusive” account—one that is safe, convenient, and easy to use for other transactions.10 These programs represent a possible source of immediate transaction activity for any electronic-delivery system, which can in turn add significant value for the recipients. In Mexico, for example, Diconsa’s electronic-transfer program enables customers to collect government payments in 30 minutes—down from 6.5 hours—and virtually eliminates the customer’s travel costs, which averaged $3 a trip. The correspondent service provides its customers with significant value in money and time saved.

Correspondents could also create value for consumers by making international remittances cheaper and more convenient. The cost of sending money to a developing country largely reflects the volume of flows into it, the quality of the retail payments infrastructure, and the number of options available to receiving consumers. When such a remittance goes to countries (like Indonesia and the Philippines) with competitive cost structures and relatively large volumes, its cost can be 5 to 7 percent of its value—and two or three times as much for other destinations.11 The proliferation of safe and convenient correspondent outlets could help not only to increase the volumes and reduce the costs of international remittances but also to reduce the costs and increase the reliability and security of domestic ones; this market is typically dominated by cumbersome, inefficient, and risky informal channels.

Direct-deposit services also offer value for both consumers and providers of correspondent services. Much like government transfers, the electronic payment of salaries or pensions is convenient for consumers. Such products could also serve as the foundation for credit offerings based on expected cash flows from employers. In Brazil, the volume of payroll-linked loans grew by more than 110 percent annually—four times the pace of credit cards—in the first four years after regulators authorized the products, in 2003.
Conduct pilots that can be rapidly implemented and continually refined

The learning curve for correspondent banking in the context of financial inclusion is steep. Organizations should expect to make mistakes when they develop their models. The most successful operations design processes that enable them to learn from their mistakes and to develop solutions as they proceed.

To promote rapid and continual learning, organizations should develop processes to conduct targeted pilots that can be quickly revised through customer feedback and then relaunched. By enabling organizations to learn as they go, this approach minimizes the risks they run while experimenting to find the best way forward.

Mexico’s Diconsa partnership, for instance, relied extensively on user-centered prototyping. Rather than trying to launch a perfect product at scale the first time around, Diconsa conducted a series of field experiments. It launched its first pilot soon after the partnership began and managed this experiment aggressively, placing members of the delivery team directly in the community so they could observe customer behavior and make real-time refinements. This approach gave the partnership early successes and helped it expand its offerings more quickly.

Safaricom, a telecom provider, took a similar approach to piloting when it developed its M-Pesa mobile-payment service. Originally conceived as a platform for receiving and making payments on small loans, M-Pesa partnered with the local microfinance company Faulu to gain access to clients. Piloting suggested that the service would undercut Faulu’s offering but that the population would value general payment and remittance services. M-Pesa redefined its value proposition as a result, and today it is one of the world’s most successful mobile-money transfer services.

Pioneering organizations around the world are demonstrating the value of correspondent banking. As the strategy evolves, it will become increasingly important as a way to develop scale in financial inclusion. It is not only an effective alternative to building new branches but also an important adjunct to mobile financial services, providing cost-effective outlets for cash-in, cash-out services. Experience suggests that early entrants gain the most. Organizations that start now could promote social and economic benefits for poor people by dramatically expanding financial inclusion and thus helping a growing number of low-income workers gain access to financial tools that they can use to improve their lives.

What do you think? Share your views and comments below.

About the Authors: Alberto Chaia is a principal in McKinsey’s Mexico City office, where Esteban Silva is a consultant; Robert Schiff is an associate principal in the New York office.

Source Courtesy: mckinseyquarterly.com

What do you think? Share your views and comments below.

The survey has also showed that online shoppers in the UAE made an average of 4 purchases in 4Q 2009 compared to 4.2 purchases in fourth quarter 2008.

This is the third survey on online shopping habits conducted by MasterCard. It covered 8,000 respondents across 14 markets: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and UAE, with Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines and Taiwan being new markets included in 2009. The inaugural survey was conducted in December 2007.

More online shoppers in general agreed that it is more convenient and easier to shop online as compared to last year. Respondents in the UAE are becoming more comfortable with shopping on the internet, with 52% of the respondents having stated that it is convenient to shop online in 2009 versus 47% in 2008. Furthermore, 54% of the respondents stated that it is easier to shop online in 2009 versus 52% in 2008.

In the UAE, the most popular items bought by online shoppers included airline tickets (43%), books and arts (34%), CDs, DVDs and VCDs (30%) and home appliances and electronic products (29%). Airline tickets (38%) and books and arts (33%) were the two items that triggered the most impulsive shopping amongst UAE shoppers. The top reason for impulsive buying was discounts (69%) that online channels offer.

In terms of future online shopping, 62% of the respondents in the UAE affirmed that they were “likely” or “very likely” to shop online. In addition, 55% of the respondents “strongly agree” that when they shop online, they would prefer to have a hotline number for enquiry and 72% deemed it “extremely important” that the site offers secure payment facility when considering to make an online purchase.

Online shopping has come a long way and today the latest MasterCard survey reflects this change. As online shoppers become more savvy and are increasingly satisfied with their online shopping experience, they are purchasing beyond lifestyle items such as airline tickets, online games and music downloads and have evolved to buying basic necessities including home appliances and groceries.

BlackBerry’s encryption technology had raised concerns among officials in countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and India that police are blocked from checking electronic data for illegal activity.

In a statement on its website today, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said: “BlackBerry services are now compliant with the UAE’s telecommunications regulatory framework.”

The statement said: “All BlackBerry services in the UAE will continue to operate as normal and no suspension of service will occur.”

No further details were provided by TRA on the agreement with RIM.

Joseph Ponnou demonstrates how UAE residents can easily pay school fees from the comfort of their armchair. As of the date this video was uploaded, this service is expected to be launched soon.

See how UAE customers can now send money worldwide online right from the comfort of their desk

TagPay (www.tagnpay.com) allows people to send money from France to any mobile phone in Mali. The receiver will be able to spend money in any Merchant accepting the service.