Japanese operator KDDI is to invest $22 million in the US-based financial service provider Microfinance International Corporation (MFIC) with the idea to develop a global open mobile payment platform. According to the carrier’s president, Takashi Tanaka, although telecom players and the financial services markets are converging, “most of them are local movements” rather than a unified, global development.
The two companies issued the following joint statement:
KDDI’s extensive global relationship with over 600 carriers and MFIC’s innovative money transfer solution – advanced payment/settlement system connected to a network of payers in 90 countries – will enable mobile network operators to offer competitive financial services and expand the boundary of financial services to integrate billions of unbanked customers into the formal financial system.
As a first step, the plan is to roll-out a service in the US via KDDI’s New Jersey-based Locus Telecommunications to allow customers to send money overseas using a multi-purpose calling card. If that goes as planned, I’m sure other countries will follow shortly…
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]