Introducing Money Mesh

Times are changing, and the time time for me to bring myself into the new era of publishing is upon us. Over the past few months I have thought long and hard about the appropriate way to establish a platform on which I can say my thoughts, insights and outlook. Which lead me to the desire to build a platform for idea, a platform that would be larger than just myself. A platform that would be open to contributions for the world’s leading minds. That platform is Money Mesh.

The technological, social and cultural developments over the past 10 years have accelerated the global rate of innovation. Today, we are witnessing the seismic demographic shift from a traditional and passive media consumer group to an empowered and anytime-anywhere generation of knowledge creators and community builders.

Recent events have shown that social networks possess the power to enrich everyday encounters and enable political upheavals. Mobile devices have facilitated the anywhere-anytime approach to and availability of services, while extending the reach of the financial ecosystem.

Money Mesh seeks to speak in the midst of these changes and aims to explore the ongoing evolution of how our dynamic human network liveswith its money. This blog/forum/platform will provide timely discussions on themes such as technology innovation, social networks, security, regulation, mobility culture shifts and behavioural change in an increasingly mobile and connected world.

I hope to not only share my experiences and insights on these developments and trends, but also initiate a continuing dialogue with thought-leaders, visionaries and innovators who share my passion for making money more mobile and accessible for everyone.

For those who have followed my publishing over the years, I thank you all for your support, the joinery continues at Money Mesh 

www.money-mesh.com

Time for a change

Apologies for my recent absence from writing. I have been going through a life transition as I move out of Fundamo and into a more creative space, both as a new father and an independent mind. I loved my time at Fundamo, I was exposed to some of the most intelligent people in the industry and thrown into some of the most exciting markets on the planet. 


Over the years I have always wanted to write more... write about my thoughts, insights, visions for the future and general outlook on life. Which I have had the pleasure of doing through this blog. However my since finishing up with Fundamo, my creative juices have been flowing stronger than ever before and given birth to an exciting new part of my writing outlets. In close consultation with a few outstanding industry peers, I have been building an exciting new platform for me to share my work through.


In the coming weeks I will be taking the curtains off a new collaboration tool that will allow me to share not only my words, but also images, videos and ideas with the entire world. I am excited to say, it will be a chance for me to push the boundaries of thoughts more than ever before. I look forward to the support of those around me, and encourage you all to get involved in this exciting change.

Disjointed Eco-System… what's the point?

This morning I had a challenging start to the day, not only was it a Monday, but my NETS FlashPay Card was down to less than one dollar. Which means I can't access public transport until I top it up. So I jumped on the Bus with the aim of paying cash, so I could get to the MRT station where I could top up my card. But… Singaporean buses don't accept anything over a Two Dollar note, I only had a Ten. Frustrated, I now had to walk in Singapore's humid morning to the 7-Eleven, roughly half way to the MRT Station. During those 15 minutes I kept thinking in amazement that a bus driver was unable to accept anything more than a two-dollar note. He wasn't even willing to let me ride the bus to the MRT station so I could top-up.

Upon arriving at 7-Eleven I hit a major Eco-System limitation with NETS. You can only Top-Up your NETS FlashPay with Cash, you can't use your NETS Card. In complete amazement, I had to now walk out the front of the building to get cash, so I could come back an pay cash to top-up my card. Why would a domestic scheme create such a situation where one of their products can't interact with another? I associate the ideas with imagine you couldn't pay your VISA Credit Card off using your VISA Debit Card. Thus leaving me a super frustrated consumer.

After loosing close to 45 minutes working my way around the various constraints of the system, it leaves me pondering a key question: What is NETS thinking? Have they completely lost any concept of what it means to be a scheme provider? Why would they create products and services that require the consumer to juggle the end-points? I am complete lost as to how such a constraint even exists, surely I am not the only person to come across this.

If you are going to build a domestic scheme eco-system you need to ensure you encapsulate all the eco-systems end-points. Your value add to the flow of money is meant to be secure customer convenience, not to create more challenges. So I end this blog note with a message to the NETS scheme in Singapore. I strongly suggest you re-evaluate the gaps in your current service offering, you need to ensure you give the consumer end-to-end convenience. Not just deliver where you've been able to negotiate favorable commercial agent agreements. Remember it's your brand on the back of all these products, so the consumer will judge NETS, not 7-Eleven, not Guardian and not the MRT. NETS are responsible for end-to-end experience and convenience. Taking this into account might actually help create a more complete and completive offering.

A new generation of banking... Movenbank

Today we witnessed a quantum step forward for the banking industry, as author of Bank 2.0, Brett King, announced the launch of Movenbank. A radically different way for people to engage with their money. Long gone are the formalities of banking, allowing consumers the power to spend, save and access their money in completely new ways. Utilising the power of gameification, consumers will have transparent power in their hand, known as CRED.

The modern consumer already carries one of the most powerful service delivery devices in the history of man, the mobile phone. Which has amazing ability to create behavioural, geographical, demographic and timeliness information that contextualized the world around us. Just like the daily ritual 750 million Facebook users have, as they check their news feed to see what's going on with their friends, family and associates. Advertising is targeted with precision, suggested services, new friends, all are built leveraging the power of information.

Movenbank has is the bank redesigned for the modern day, in a world that consumers create, engage and utilise information in an increasingly more rapid and empowering ways. Many of the the modern day digital natives have embraced the power of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. changing the by gone perception that everyone wants to hide from the world. Instead the modern consumer is happy to agree to an exchange of value, where the consumer allows the world access to their information in exchange for an optimised, contextualized consumer experience. Thus empowering the consumer with the utility of money and their mobile.

Movenbank is based on "CRED," which is based not just on your traditional credit scores, but recognises your "influence" at the bank, through the inclusion of information from your transactional behaviour, social networks and network influence.

With the Alpha release on October 1st. This truly will alter the course of how we all live with our money.

Best of luck to Brett King and the team at Movenbank

Breathe… A Tribute to the Mobile Money Pioneers

This year is the ten year anniversary of mobile's entry in the world of financial services. The past ten years has seen the industry push through the phases of experimentation, isolated adoption and the fight for self sufficient viability. Conceived in the unbanked territories of Africa, mobile technologies first primary role was that of an enabler that stretch beyond the boundaries of traditional banks and financial institutions, to reach the underhand and unbanked. What happened would put two industries on a collision course of customer ownership, banking and telecommunications. Many would credit Safaricom's M-Pesa as the first, but prior to M-Pesa's success in Kenya, Celpay in Zambia, G-Cash in the Philippines and Wizzit in South Africa were making inroads. Blue sky dreams lead a hype driven outlook, banks begun to feel the pressure of disintermediation, as mobile operators on multiple continents launched their own flavour of financial services.

Since these early days the evolving industry has had to frantically fight for its survival amongst the absence of matured profitable businesses to justify the ongoing innovation and development costs. The industry attracted only those most passionate about the cause, as they endured complex projects and intense travel schedules in the face of constant criticism from the incumbent financial institutions and regulators.

Recent years have seen a handful of banks launch services, under innovative new business models, such as Wing by ANZ in Cambodia, bKash by Brac Bank in Bangladesh and Barclay's in India. With the banks onboard, regulators around the world began to see the value in agency and branchless banking models, which opened the door for dozens of new operations around the world. Then came 2011.

This year we witnessed major global organisations make large strategic moves, bringing globally recognisable brands and diluting previous doubts about mobile's viability, thus setting the stage for one of the most exciting years ahead. 2012 will see services go mainstream, bridging the gaps between traditional financial eco-systems and the closed loop eco-systems built over the past 10 years. As mobile penetration continues to rapidly grow in all corners of the globe, the markets ability to leverage the mobile network as a part of the financial ecosystem strengthens. Lessons learned from developing and developed markets will collide as individuals that have endured the hard slog to today begin to share knowledge with a broader more engaged audience and workforce.

Gone are the days of frantically trying to justify our existence. Those who don't listen now will be left behind. No doubt, that in years to come 2011 will be seen as a critical tipping point in the evolution of financial services. Those who made moves in 2011 will be the leaders of tomorrow, while those who haven't will be left wondering how they missed the boat.

Now is the time that I'd like to recognise the efforts of the industries pioneers, those that have helped drive the establishment of this evolution. While names are not necessary, I know that these individuals have worked diligently, passionately and exhaustively over the years. Many of which I have had the pleasure of working beside, or shared stories with over the years. I commend your efforts… and encourage you to take this moment to just breathe… reflect and soak up all that you have achieved. The road ahead will still be hard work, but you can rest assured, the industry now has mainstream validation and you are the individuals that carry all the wisdom into this exciting new world.

Congratulations on a job well done

Here comes the bride… but who is the bride, and why are they getting married?

Two key industry vertical in the Mobile Financial Services domain are Banks and Mobile Operators, to date they have been in a perceived turf war as they battle over who will prosper as mobile technology strives forward as a key enabler for banking and payments.

The battle was first outlined by the success of SafariCom in Kenya, who with little to no help from the banking sector, built a hugely successful payments services driving huge leaps forward in payments convenience, financial inclusion and of course fee revenue. This lead to the hype driven years where innovators and analysts talked up the market opportunity globally. Moments later, Globe Telecom in the Philippines saw accelerated growth with it's business G-Cash, followed by Smart. But this created an industry divide and challenge. Traditionally banks were the only ones to offer payments and banking services, but recent successes opened the door to the possibility that a non-bank organisations could offer financial services to a customer base far greater than the banks have ever experienced through their traditional bricks and mortar business'. Banking analysts and banks responded with an attempt to create a scare campaign based on consumer protection and fraud, but mobile operator lead initiatives thrived through market necessity. Thus creating and 'Us versus Them' debate throughout the industry. Materials in the press continually focused on the question, 'Who will win?' will it be the Banks,  or will it be the Mobile Operators? A debate with a poisonous thread in an industry that necessitated collaboration.

Throughout the debate we were faced with a choice on whose perspective was right. Were the banks justified in their concerns about security, risk and fraud. Or were the Mobile Operators justified in their risk relative market demand approach providing services to people historically excluded from formal financial services? Reminds me of the dating scene, where men and women have different perspective on conduct and interaction. Even though both had the long term goal of procreation, often self indulgent perspectives encouraged each side that their needs and thoughts are superior and the opposite sex is just wrong. Isn't that what the book Men are Mars and Women are from Venus is based on? Variations on perspective.

Hundreds of years of experience have shaped of legacy thinking and beliefs system of bankers(men) throughout the world. Dealing with people's money was a serious business, with serious risk's. Loosing even a single dollar of a customer is considered devastating both from a reputation and trust perspective. The complexities of modern financial products, have meant that banking has become more than deposits, as increasing numbers of consumers took on credit and investment products. Experience with cheque fraud, financial melt downs, defaults and increased operating costs gave birth to practises such as Basel, AML/CTF, Risk Assessments and Regulated Policy. The result is an industry that fears change, particularly change it doesn't understand. Hence they innovate at a slower pace, prioritise risk controls above customer experience and withdrew from perceived risky products. Banks in my opinion are the men. Historically has reenforced their superiority in society, gentlemanly norms regulated their behaviour, they owned the family assets, drove the family car and women went meant to be subservient. In the end game of procreation, their role as a father is known.

Mobile Operators on the other hands are young in comparison. The earliest commercial mobile phones date back to the late 1970's. Hence they are considerably more innovative, and attack markets at a faster pace. In merging markets, it's not unheard of for operators to have double digit year on year growth. They have endured the markets ability to accept small slips in service standards, adopting multiple iterations of innovations such as SMS, WAP, Smart Phones & 3G. The ever growing demand for communications with mobility have driven their success in their contribution to society. While the comparison is a long shot, the age of the mobile movement is very similar to that of the female movement as women moved out of a stereotyped role in society to contribute in ever increasing capacities throughout society. Many would argue that the individuals drove the feminist movement, but in my opinion global demands necessitated more significant contributions from females arose the world. As the role of a woman grew, so did the frequency in which they stepped on the toes of traditional roles for men(Banks). While they may have moved into corporate roles, equal opportunity and business leaders, their role in society's ultimate goal of procreation remained. But they still had to battle the perception that women couldn't be in serious roles, creating concepts such as the glass ceiling.

What's the comparative for procreation in the battle of Banks and Mobile Operators in the turf war over Mobile Financial Services? One would argue that the effective collaboration between these two industry verticals. In my opinion recent examples of joint ventures, merges and collaboration agreements are the 'marriage' of industry players Leading to the optimum procreational outcome of profitable, sustainable businesses, the children of collaboration. Only through the proliferation of the next generation with evolved perceptions on the norms that govern society, paving the way for more and more successful collaborations.

In summary, I believe the ultimate success and evolution of of mobile technology as a norm for banking and payments is highly dependant on the ability of banks(men) and mobile operators(women) to realise they both have the same objective of building success mobile financial services businesses(children). Only then with aligned horizons will they fuse their roles in the industry, giving birth to generations of industry success

Google & Motorola.... anything for Mobile Money?

In a bid to strengthen its mobile business, Google announced today that it would acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings, the cellphone business that was split from Motorola, for US$40 (S$48) a share in cash, or US$12.5 billion.(TodayONLINE). The offer - by far Google's largest ever for an acquisition - is 63 per cent above the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday. Motorola manufactures phones that run on Google's Android software.


But is this deal likely to effect the world of Mobile Financial Services? To gain an insight into the potential we need to look at the history of the two businesses.
Motorola has had a roller coaster history over several decades. Many of us would recall devices such as the StarTAC and the RAZR, under the Helo Moto messaging. But even with these pinacle devices, Motorola was never able to achieve the mass market scale of its competitors Nokia, LG and Sony Ericsson. The first Motorola device to use Google's open source OS, Android 2.0, was released on November 2009, the Motorola Droid. The handset division was then spun off into the independent Motorola Mobility.


Google on the other hand has been on an ever growing distribution base in the Mobile OS space since it's acquisition of Android in 2005. Then with the support of the Open Handset Alliance, Google launched it's first release of the acquired platform in 2007. Since that Android has seen a spike in distribution across some 80 device manufacturers. By the fourth quarter of 2010, Android become the world's best selling Mobile OS.


The challenge for Smart Phone OS providers, has always been the market share limitation globally. In 2011, roughly only 25% of global devices are smart phones. This is where the Google Motorola opportunity comes in.
With Motorola's device experience, Google should be able to create move to penetrate lower down the value chain of the handset market. Thus opening the door for richer distribution of services over the open source OS market. With mid and low end devices powered by Android in the hands of the 700 million mobile users in India, or the 180 million in Indonesia, the distribution of mobile service becomes easier and richer. A perspective very different to Nokia's recent announcement of factory preloaded applications.


A parallel initiative run by the Grameen Foundation, AppLab, who seek to engage with organisations, government entities and socially-minded companies interested in better understanding and meeting the needs of the poor. AppLab has had a long history of building services on the Android platform, particularly in markets such as Uganda, Indonesia. Overlaying Google's OS, Motorola's device experience and grass roots level programs such as AppLab's means a powerful network of organisations with simple tools that can overcome the commercial barriers that Mobile Operators put in place to restrict the success of services trying to access their customer base. Resulting in the easier, quicker and more cost effective creation, distribution and management of mobile services such as Mobile Money.


In summary, with the effective collaboration of open source OS(Google) and a device manufacturer(Motorola), we have for the first time, a complete non-Apple mobile eco-system for the creation of services for delivery over mobile