UAE Exchange sees collaboration in mobile money transfer market as key to growth

Nov. 2, 2012 - PRLog -- The head of Mobile Money Transfers at UAE Exchange, Sumit Bakshi, says most stakeholders in the industry are trying to do everything by themselves and that there is huge scope for collaboration.  UAE Exchange is the world’s largest operator of international money transfer services, with a presence across 32 countries.  Mr Bakshi is a leading expert speaker at the upcoming Connected World Forum taking place from 19-22 November in Dubai.  Mr Bakshi believes that the industry is still in an exploratory phase and that “right now, all across the entire spectrum of launches there is only one, M-Pesa, which can be really called successful.”  

He continues:  “the problem right now that we are seeing is that most people are trying to do everything by themselves.  The banks, if they launch something they want to do everything by themselves.  If a telecom operator launches a product they want to do everything by themselves.  I think there is a huge scope for collaboration and third party like UAE Exchange to be brought into the picture.  Everyone working in their own domain, still collaborating, can come up with a very, very viable product.”

Financialisation biggest challenge
According to Sumit Bakshi, the biggest challenge for the UAE Exchange is financialisation.  He explains:  “For the UAE Exchange it is slightly different.  We are not a bank, and we are not telecom operators.  But we think there is room for a third party led model like us who have experience of handling retail financial services, and who have very strong ground presence.  Technologically we do not have any issues; we have a very strong technical team who can handle any new advancement in technology.  But it is the regulatory environment around the realisation of actual funds for remittance that causes us the biggest problem.”

Convenience ultimate decider for end user
The UAE Exchange’s Sumit Bakshir says ultimately, the mobile money end user will be drawn by the convenience of it:  “initial acceptance or rather initial trials can be built on the novelty factor of the service.  But, their attention will be based on convenience.  If they can actually see that it is more convenient than me zipping out my wallet and paying, then only will they stick to it.”

Connected World Forum
More than a thousand lifeline services experts are gathering in Dubai for the Connected World Forum, incorporating Mobile Money Global and Mobile Health Global, from 19-22 November in Dubai.  More than 100 leading industry experts will address the conference while some 70 exhibitors will display the latest lifeline technology and services.

The Connected World Forum consists of three separate streams:  Mobile Money, Mobile Health and Mobile Life.

Event dates:  
19 November:  Pre-conference workshop, Mobile Money and Mobile Health Academy
20-21 November:  Mobile Money, Mobile Health and Mobile Life Conference days
20 November:  Connected World Forum Awards
22 November:  Post-conference workshop:  Mobile Money and Mobile Health Academy

Location:  Atlantis The Palm, Dubai, UAE
Event websites:  www.connectedworldforum.com