|
Facebook eyes expansion in to
rapidly growing mobile money industry
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
The social media giant Facebook has
been creating news very frequently with its aggressive acquisition
strategy. Ever since the company started, various innovative features
were added to the main Facebook application to enhance user experience.
However, since the focus shifting from �Web� to �Mobile�, aggression has
been tremendous and performance has been commendable.
Amidst these developments, the Menlo
Park Company gained further attention after revealing its intentions to
provide mobile money services to facilitate international remittances.
Earlier attempts of Facebook to enter mobile payments through Facebook
Deals, Facebook Offers, Facebook Gifts and �Want� shopping button failed
as consumers did not perceive the social network as a shopping device.
However, unlike these initiatives, Facebook has a strong business case
in entering the remittance business.
As an initial phase, Facebook is
working with banking regulators in Ireland to obtain approval to operate
as a cash transfer and a remittance company. This move of Facebook is
set to challenge a Billion dollar industry which has been in existence
for decades. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Why Mobile Money & Remittances?
Mobile money is an industry primarily focused on
financial inclusion. Today there are 236 mobile money deployments in the
world serving more than 200 million people to meet their basic financial
needs such as money transfers, utility payments and micro savings
through their mobiles. However, still 3/4th of the world�s poor remains
unbanked. Potential for mobile money is high in developing nations
especially in African and Asian continents. Experts believe that the
move of Facebook would act as a catalyst for financial inclusion.
As a business, the move makes sense with rapid growth in mobile handset
& internet penetration globally. This would be fuelled by Facebook�s
growing active user base, currently at 1.2 Billion. The social media
tool is considered as one of the most frequently used applications by
migrants to keep in touch with their friends and families back home.
Facebook�s recent acquisition of WhatsApp for $19 Billion also could be
considered as a strategy to make inroads to this great opportunity.
Investment in this advertising revenue less texting service could
payback if the service become successful as it could capture a large
base untapped by Facebook. These factors place Facebook at a very
favourable position to serve a ready market.


Transaction speed, security, accessibility (both at sender & receiver
ends) and cost effectiveness are few main factors which affect this
market. Though Facebook would have the capability to facilitate online
real-time peer-to-peer transactions, the success would also depend on
the strength of the ecosystem around this industry in different
countries.
Entry
strategy

Giant
leaps of this scale are generally approached through partnerships as
synergies could help each other when they move through the learning
curve. Based on the sources, it is expected that Facebook would follow
the same and partner with payment service providers. According to
Financial Times, Facebook is in discussions with remittance partners
such as TransferWise, Moni Technologies and Azimo. But it seems there
are other partners also involved in discussions. Financial Times also
reported that among different news, Facebook has offered to pay
$10Million to recruit a co-founder of Azimo as a director of business
development. However, both parties have declined to comment on the
matter when it was inquired.
Having minimum number of
partners to facilitate a particular remittance corridor would be
beneficial for Facebook and customers. This would help the customers to
save more compared to the high fees paid for money transfers currently.
Pricing strategy would be an interesting area to focus on as significant
savings should be created for customers while managing the partners in
the remittance ecosystem.

|
|
|
|
|
Will this have an impact
on Sri Lanka?
The impact of this initiative could
also have an influence on Sri Lanka. Among global remittance recipient
markets, Sri Lanka is within the first 30 countries. Inward remittances
account for over $6 Billion annually. This contributes more than 10% to
Sri Lanka�s Gross Domestic Product. Increase in number of migrant
workers and tourist arrivals also could fuel this growth.
Rise in smartphone, internet and Facebook penetration would also
contribute to this development if the service is enabled in Sri Lanka.
As the mass of the beneficiaries are spread in sub urban and rural
segments, the adaption to the service would depend on the simplicity of
the application, controls that would be in place with directions of
regulators and the strength of cash out infrastructure. However, it
would be an interesting development for the financial services industry
as this would be an additional channel for money remittances apart from
the channels offered by banks and financial institutions.
In conclusion, it is clear that Facebook�s initial effort to keep people
connected, now gradually making them way to capitalize on the user base
to facilitate other needs. Global expansion of this service would make
dramatic changes to people�s transactional behaviours. From Facebook�s
point of view, this would be a strong revenue stream which would place
the company levels ahead of other social networks. However, it should be
noted that expansion would be challenging as this industry is governed
with heavy controls in terms of Anti Money Laundering and Counter
Terrorist Financing. Also the giant banks and international money
transfer services would fight back strongly to remain competitive.
By Ruzan Ahamed
Ruzan serves as a
contributing editor for Digit magazine and also is a senior executive at
Dialog Axiata PLC. This article was initially published by
www.digit.lk.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|  | |
| |
 | |  |
GOOGLE GLASS IS THE PERFECT TOOL FOR STEALING YOUR
PHONE'S PASSCODE | | |

�. . . Most people using smart devices have a simple password set up �
four digits that protect your phone or tablet from prying eyes and theft.
Usually, these passwords are quite easy to protect when in public; just
type it in quickly and no one will notice, especially outdoors sun glare
makes it hard to read your screen. However, if you find yourself typing in
your password in the presence of a Google Glass wearer, beware. ..� | | ![]() |
Who is ultimately responsible for data security in
the cloud? |
| |

'.... A recent report
following Infosecurity Europe 2014 suggested that 43 per cent of
organisations had no enterprise visibility or control into whether
employees were putting sensitive data into the cloud. Furthermore, a new
survey has shown that almost half of firms say they already, or plan to,
run their company from the cloud. Both of these findings clearly
demonstrate just how integral the cloud is becoming to businesses.....' | |  |
PayPal Two-Factor Authentication Bypassed |
| |
 | |
| |
'...Rupert Keeley, the executive
in charge of the EMEA region of PayPal, the payments unit of eBay Inc, said in
an interview on Monday the expansion would bring the number of countries it
serves to 203.
Starting on Tuesday, consumers in Nigeria, which has 60 million users and has
Africa's largest population, along with nine other markets in sub-Saharan
Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America will be able to make payments through
PayPal...' | |  |
Google I/O: A To Z |
| |
 | | |
'.... Google delivered a stream
of new announcements over the course of two and a half hours during its I/O
keynote address today. Nearly all the news centered on Android and its
derivatives, which include a number of new platforms. Here's a quick rundown
of everything Google announced:....' | |  |
HACKERS REWRITE YEARBOOKS, ENTER UK INTRANET, AND
GRAB SSNS TO JAILBREAK AT&T PHONES |
| |
 | | | | |
| |
"....In case you missed our
coverage this week in ThreatWatch, Nextgov�s regularly updated index of
cyber breaches:
Code-hosting firm closes shop after hacker deletes Amazon cloud data �
and backups
Code Spaces said the cost of attempting to resolve the attack and the
expected cost of refunding customers will cause irreparable harm to the
company�s finances and reputation....� | |
|
|
Month in Brief |
|
Facebook Incidents
Reported to Sri Lanka CERT|CC in May 2014 | |
 | | | | | Fake + Harassment | | | Hacked | | | Abuse | |
| |
| |
Statistics - Sri Lanka CERT|CC |
|
Alerts |  |
Invasive Selfmite SMS worm uncovered | |
| |
 | |
'....AdaptiveMobile has discovered a previously unknown piece of mobile
malware dubbed Selfmite. It spreads via SMS and fools users into
installing a worm app which propagates by automatically sending a text
message to contacts in the infected phone�s address book.
The worm then requests users to install another legitimate app via an
advertising platform; the author of the worm is paid every time this
legitimate app is successfully installed.......' | |
|  |
Microsoft Unveils New Intelligence-Sharing Platform | |
 | |
'...Microsoft joined the
intelligence-sharing platform party today with a preview of its own
offering for sharing attack information among organizations.
The new Interflow platform, based on Microsoft's Azure cloud service, is
geared for incident responders and security researchers. "We needed a
better and more automated way to exchange information with incident
responders. That's how we started on a path developing this platform,"
says Jerry Bryant, lead senior security strategist with Microsoft
Trustworthy Computing. "This allows for automated knowledge exchange....� | ![]() |
WANT TO SEARCH THAT CELL PHONE? BETTER GET A WARRANT
| |
 | |
'....One smart phone owner in
eight, Chief Justice John Roberts noted Wednesday, admits to sometimes
taking a cell phone into the shower. (The other seven, I think, are
probably lying.)
Thanks to the Court, smart phone bathers can shower assured that even if
the police burst in upon them like Norman Bates in blue, seize their
persons roughly, and parade them off in dishabille to be subjected to
jailhouse indignities, the officers cannot amuse themselves afterwards by
idly poking through the smart phones they confiscate....' |  |
PATCHED CODE EXECUTION BUG AFFECTS MOST ANDROID
USERS | |
 | |
'......A serious
code-execution vulnerability in Android 4.3 and earlier was patched in
KitKat, the latest version of the operating system.
Researchers at IBM this week disclosed the nature of the vulnerability,
which was privately disclosed to the Android Security Team in September
and patched last November....' |  |
The tips you will need to hack the Ziggo Hotspots | |
 | |
'..... Ziggo has challenged
hackers to hack the Ziggo Hotspots, so we decided to collect all the
�public� available information about Ziggo Hotspots.
.This will allow you to focus
on the hacking part, instead of doing the research of what type of device
and environment the Ziggo hotspots are running......' |
|