I had the pleasure of participating as both a panelist and moderator at the Mobile Money Canada event last week. It was a fantastic gathering of professionals actively involved in the Mobile Financial Services industry in Canada. I would like to recap some highlights from the session I participated in entitled: "What is the right Mobile Money approach for Canada? Bank Centric, Mobile Operator Centric, or Collaboration?"  The other guest panellists included:

1. Patrick Kelly, SVP Business Development at Monitise Americas
2. Jason Hurlbut, Vice President, Global Sales & Business Development at CPNI Inc.
3. Aran Hamilton, Vice President - Strategic Partnerships at EnStream LP

The topic itself was rather controversial and is usually a source of fierce debate in many similar forums globally. However it was surprising to see that in Canada it seems that there is more consensus around a collaborative approach to mobile financial services. This was highlighted by the following key moments in the panel discussion:

• Aran Hamilton assured the audience that all the major Canadian Operators (Bell, Rogers & Telus) were not vying for 'ownership' of the end consumer with regards mobile financial service offerings. Rather the carriers see themselves as being enablers for this service offering and that Canadian banks would ultimately own the customer relationship. Mr. Hamilton explained that this was the main reason the 3 carriers jointly created Enstream in order to provide this interoperable platform for banks to use.
• A member of the audience, representing Telus Mobility, reaffirmed Mr. Hamilton's statement about ownership of the consumer relationship and the desire of the canadian operators to have this managed by banks.
• There was a consensus that both carriers and banks offer unique benefits to the mobile financial ecosystem and that the industry should be forward looking in realizing that a lot more opportunities for service innovation can be realized if both parties collaborate.
• It was pointed out that the consumer should be the prime focus in determining the right service model as ultimately it is the consumer that must benefit in order for there to be success. When the consumer benefits then there will be tangible benefits to all parties in the ecosystem. As a result, operators and carriers should not attempt to implement a Bank or Mobile centric model but rather start from the consumer up and determine what hybrid model best suits their needs. This will differ from market to market which is why we see different success stories in various countries around the globe.
• There should not be any confusion on how banks & operators both cooperate and compete in this space. The analogy was drawn to technology vendors that compete on emerging technologies, whereby they collaborate on matters that impede progress of the industry (by creating industry standards and standards bodies) and compete in areas where they can differentiate themselves. Likewise banks and operators must cooperate to establish common industry standards and interoperability for mobile financial services. Once this is done the industry as a whole can progress and the various players can begin to differentiate themselves with value added services, pricing, and incentives, etc.

Overall, it was a very stimulating and entertaining debate and highlights how Canada is definitely ready to become a pioneer in the mobile financial services space.