Nokia's mobile bank accounts coming next year

LONDON - Nokia is entering the mobile banking market, just months after purchasing a stake in mobile payments company Obopay, with the launch of Nokia Money, which allows users to pay for products using their mobile handset.

Nokia to launch mobile bank account service in 2010
Nokia to launch mobile bank account service in 2010

Nokia Money customers will be able to send money to their mates just by using the person's mobile number, as well as pay merchants for goods, pay bills or top-up SIM cards.

The company is also planning on building a network of Nokia Money agents, where consumers can deposit money in or withdraw cash from their accounts.

Nokia predicts mobile payments to be the next big thing in the financial services industry, bringing banking access to hundreds of millions of people, both urban and rural, who are underserved by existing payment means, especially in emerging economies.

The service will be operated in cooperation with Obopay which Nokia invested in earlier this year.

Nokia Money is based on Obopay's mobile payment platform and will be interoperable with other payment services as well.

Mary McDowell, Nokia executive, said: "In many countries, mobile phone ownership significantly exceeds bank account usage, suggesting that many mobile phone users have very limited or no access to basic financial services.

"With more than 4 billion mobile phone users and only 1.6 billion bank accounts, global demand for access to financial services presents a strong opportunity to combine mobile devices with simple but powerful financial services such as Nokia Money."

Nokia said, rural consumers will particularly benefit the service with long-distance money transfers.

The service will be available across different operator networks and on virtually any mobile phone, rolling out in Germany in September, before launching in specific markets in 2010.

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