and micro - schemes as it will greatly reduce their operational costs, in particular travelling. of course, with proper funds management, their savings should similarly increase. some mobile service providers are linked up with banks in partnership, hence availing main stream banking services to all. there will be the possibility of withdrawing and depositing money linked to bank accounts. there are more benefits ladies and gentlemen. through mobile money, there can be transfer of funds between persons. it means that a “ bubu ” in lau can receive funds from her grandchild working in rakiraki. likewise, government and other agencies can use the mobile phone to pay salaries and wages to their employees in the remote areas. and, you can pay your electricity, water, and other utility bills from the comfort of your living room or whilst out fishing. the need to carry cash will be reduced as you can equally pay for goods and services through your mobile phone. therefore, this also increases safety of handling and keeping cash. where for instance, theft of cash from tills etc is taking place, the customer can transfer money directly to the seller without the need for sales persons to handle cash. role of the rbf the rbf ’ s commitment to the e - money fiji project is because we realize the great potential this development will have in extending financial services to the unreached areas. more importantly, that in the process, there will be greater economic activity in the remote and maritime areas. overall, it will improve the lives of our people in these regions. we have been working closely with the two mobile phone companies in fiji to roll out this service. following a provisional licence provided by the rbf early this year, mobile phone network operators have completed their pilot test phase on mobile money services and are now at the final stages of preparation for their commercial launch. it is important to note, that international remittances outward is not approved at this stage. inward remittances from abroad however can be transacted using mobile phones, but this service will be available down the road. this, we hope, will further increase remittances into fiji. i also wish to mention here that we would expect the mobile network providers to have their mobile money systems inter - operable as soon as possible. that is, a client of vodafone for example should be able to send and receive funds from a digicel handset without any restrictions. the role of agents is very critical in the mobile money.

it is the agents who provide cash when a person takes his mobile phone to receive cash. if the agent does not have money, then the system will breakdown. therefore, i wish to emphasise here that the selection of agents by the mobile phone companies will have to be done thoroughly and properly to ensure that consumers ’ interests are protected in order to facilitate rural people to participate in the mobile money, the financial intelligence unit ( fiu ) reduced the requirements for opening of accounts. it means that, apart from birth certificates and passport, a letter from the village elder or church pastor could be used in the remote areas to id customers. the reserve bank is currently working on a best practice payment systems legislation, to licence and regulate all providers of the e - money services in fiji. the legislation will be based on four general principles : i. safety ( comprising safety of the electronic instrument and the it - based processing system, as well as prudent behavior of the issuers ) ; ii. efficiency at the national level ( the instrument will have to conform to a certain industry - approved standard ) ; iii. equitable access to all users ; and iv. consumer protection. having said this, we felt it appropriate to adopt a more flexible approach in our regulation of this particular payment system at these early stages to allow this initiative to develop and thrive. we will build up regulatory oversight as the market develops. country experiences the launching of e - money project in fiji is timely as developing countries such as kenya, uganda, pakistan, and the philippines have embraced e - money initiatives to extend financial services to the unbanked, which are mostly poor. it is being acknowledged globally as an effective tool for tackling poverty, thus attracting the attention of donors and multilateral institutions alike. in some of these developing countries, penetration and uptake of mobile phone, ranges from 45 – 60 % across the population, which includes unbanked users. in kenya, as of january this year, mobile money users were approximately 9 million, which is 23 % of kenya ’ s population using the m - pesa services, with approximately us $ 3. 6 billion transfers being conducted. in the philippines, at the same period, there were approximately 9. 2 million mobile money users or 9 % of its population with transaction volumes totaling approximately us $ 3. 3 billion. this trend in kenya and philippines continues to grow as we speak. from this penetration rate and volume of transfers, we can only imagine the huge possibilities and positive