Mobile banking lifts Kenyans out of poverty

Mobile banking may not be taking off in all corners of the world, but in Kenya, it is having a significant positive impact, with the use of mobile banking lifting 194,000 or more Kenyan households out of poverty from 2008 to 2014. According to a Wall Street Journal report that looked at research from economists Tavneet Suri of MIT and William Jack of Georgetown University, the use of mobile phones enables poor countries to provide communications technology without building a landline network and enables them to bypass traditional banks as well. Over the course of the last decade, mobile money has reached the majority of Kenyan households, with around 110,000 so-called “agents” around Kenya operating from small kiosks where cash can be deposited and withdrawn. Read more: pymnts.com