The Government can transform the lives of its rural people by supporting and encouraging the introduction of mobile phone banking services in the country.
Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Solomon Islands, CBSI, Gane Simbe says with the liberalization of the telecommunication market and the wider coverage of the mobile network in Solomon Islands, mobile phone banking services in the country is possible.He says in the past, Government policies aimed at bringing financial services to the rural population have failed because of the high cost of providing these services, due to the geographic make up and the spread of the population throughout the country.
Mr Simbe says that mobile phone banking can operate on a branchless banking model and can be facilitated through the mobile phone network operators' infrastructure, including their appointed agents around the country.
He says the mobile phone unit that each person has will be the means where a person can receive his salary, pay bills to businesses, transfer money to relatives, top up mobile phone air time, make deposit or cash mobile money account from a mobile phone top up agent.
Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Solomon Islands, CBSI, Gane Simbe said this at a recent Pacific Financial Inclusion Program Working Group meeting held Nadi, Fiji.