3 posts and columns on developing nations

News Byte

Visa Acquires Fundamo, Inks a Deal With Monitise

in Commerce on June 9, 2011 at 11:26 am PT

In a pair of mobile moves, Visa today announced its acquisition of Fundamo, a mobile banking platform for developing nations, and an agreement with Monitise, a provider of, among other things, mobile-based person-to-person payments. Price of the deals was not disclosed. The moves come on the heels of Visa’s late-April investment in Jack Dorsey’s Square, a mobile payments platform for iPhone and iPad.

Gates Foundation, U.S. Government Back Cellphone Banking for Haiti

in Mobile on January 10, 2011 at 10:35 am PT

Digicel has been given a $2.5 million grant for being the first company to establish mobile banking in Haiti. It’s part of $10 million in funding established to boost cellphone-based savings in the impoverished and quake-stricken country. Even before the quake, only one in 10 Haitians had access to traditional banking services.