Mozambique’s first mobile financial services go live

Details: James Barton; Category: Mobile Finance; 03 October 2011; 7123 views

A new financial institution in Mozambique has launched a mobile financial service aimed at the country’s unbanked population...

A new financial institution in Mozambique has launched a mobile financial service aimed at the country’s unbanked population. Carteira Móvel has launched the mKesh service to introduce electronic payments to the masses as a viable alternative to cash.

António Pinto de Abreu, deputy governor of the Bank of Mozambique, commented: “With this venture, our expectation is that financial intermediation will be expanded to the farthest outposts, thus ensuring the inclusion of more Mozambicans in the formal economy and in the financial system.”

mKesh is the first mobile financial service to be introduced in Mozambique, and allows users to send, deposit and receive money easily and securely via mobile phone.

Carteira Móvel is 70 percent-owned by state mobile telecom Moçambique Celular (mCel) and 30 percent by state holding company Instituto de Gestão das Participações do Estado (Igepe).