“Nairobi's M-Pesa, a mobile payments service that allows money to be deposited, withdrawn, and transferred using a phone, is credited with transforming tens of millions of lives in Africa by making financial services available to people not served by the conventional banking system, from the Masai Mara to Lesotho.
Now the world's most successful mobile wallet technology is expanding beyond Africa to Europe, starting with Romania. In what may be a historical first, the move involves the export of a technology from the developing to the developed world, reversing a centuries-old trend.
"So far, M-Pesa has found success in similar markets that have relatively low smartphone adoption, less access to financial services and credit cards, and that are predominantly prepaid," says Jack Kent, a mobile analyst for IHS Technology in London. In Central and Eastern Europe, he says, credit card penetration is below 20%, and prepaid mobile plans are used by 70% of subscribers.’
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