The economic impact of mobile banking on individual wealth in South Africa

Abstract

Mobile banking and access to mobile technologies have garnered a tremendous amount of interest, particularly in Africa, over the past decade. The race is one for both mobile network operators and financial institutions to take the high ground with various commercial models being implemented to leverage both the increasing demand for these services and emerging information and communications technologies, in order to maximise the potential business benefits.The question that remains is if these products and services in banking and telecommunications, have managed to contribute towards the increase of personal wealth of individuals. In other words, has the scramble for mobile enabled payments and services only resulted in the wealth creation of organisation and governments, rather than contributing towards the consumers’ lifestyle upliftment?The research looks at the economic impact of mobile banking on individuals in developing countries, in particular, South Africa. This study is of a quantitative and descriptive in nature. The study looks at the movement of individual wealth indicators in particular gross domestic product per capita in line with the movement of customer registrations for mobile banking and subscriptions for mobile phones.The research therefore looks at the different models used to facilitate mobile payments, whether bank led or mobile network operator led to establish if mobile banking is a facilitator of individual wealth creation.