Jun.29, 2010

Security compliance and governance specialist Datanomic claims that the rise of mobile money services amongst cellcos in emerging markets is increasing the risk that the carriers are inadvertently getting involved in the darker side of commerce.

Datanomic believe that m-money services – which allow mobile phone users in countries such as Africa to transfer money between themselves –- effectively increase the risk that the cellcos are breaking the rules on money transfers.

Risk and compliance analysis company, Datanomic, say that despite this, many carriers think they are exempt from compliance with stringent financial regulations or treat it as an afterthought.

"In some countries, such as Africa, there are more mobile phones than people with bank accounts, and historically there have been very limited ways of transferring money", said Dr Jonathan Pell, Datanomic's CEO.

"The introduction of mobile money transfer services represents a significant commercial opportunity to mobile operators, which is also providing an important social infrastructure, particularly in remote regions with no existing banking or branches", he said.

"However, as operators deliver financial services to customers, their risk profile and exposure rises immensely. Not all operators realise they must comply with US OFAC regulations, EU Directives, as well as national and international anti-terrorism laws", he added.

According to Dr Pell, others are aware of such legislation, but treat it as an afterthought. If mobile operators are to behave as a bank, he says, they must comply with the same responsibilities around rigorous risk screening controls as the financial services community.

Dr Pell went on to say that the GSM Association is lobbying for greater awareness and compliance around mobile money transfer services, and the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering reissued its 40 recommendations to apply to both anti-money laundering and fraud prevention.

Datanomic says that it is helping carriers to mitigate their risk exposure by using screening technology, adding that it is widely deployed by carriers around the world in countries such as Afghanistan, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania, and will be screening many more in Egypt, Fiji and beyond as the service is rolled-out to even more of Vodafone's international markets.