The power and versatility of the mobile phone to enable financial transactions is quickly being taken up by financial institutions as they strive to deepen their presence.

THE power and versatility of the mobile phone to enable financial transactions is quickly being taken up by financial institutions as they strive to deepen their presence.

Mobile money is only about four years old but has attracted close to five million users while less than 15% of the Ugandan population use formal banking services in over 100 years of banking.

But the recent decision by dfcu Bank and other institutions to connect their services and clients to the mobile phone will kickstart deeper financial penetration and allow access to more financial services by the backward linkage between the phone and the bank, according to observers.

Mobile money has radically transformed financial transactions in East Africa. 

In Kenya, more money is moved on Safaricom’s M-Pesa compared to the global outfit Western Union.

In Uganda, MTN, the giant in this game moves some sh600b monthly while over three million of its customers are using mobile money.