| This research analyzed how mobile banking technology helps underbanked or unbanked populations access more secure financial services and decrease personal financial risk. The analysis examined three different types of mobile banking transactions: paying a bill, receiving money or sending money. The quantitative analysis within this paper analyzes if, when controlling for other variables, a low proportion of ATMs or commercial bank branches is correlated with high national rates of usage of mobile technology for banking. The probit regression results show that there is a statistically significant and negative relationship between the general availability of traditional consumer financial services in a country and an individual's use of mobile banking technology in that same country. These results indicate that consumers may be increasingly turning to mobile phones to meet their personal financial needs when traditional banking services are not generally available. These results also highlight the need for global organizations and governments to increase investment in mobile banking services and the underlying infrastructure necessary to support these services, especially in countries where the number of ATMs and commercial bank branches are low, in order to expand consumers' access to financial services. |
