Why isn't there a Pirate Bay for banks, where people can send money to each other without having to wait days for it to arrive? One of the continuing mysteries of the web revolution is why the equivalent of an eBay or Amazon hasn't emerged in the banking sector, where vast profits accrue - or used to accrue - to the middlemen. It is a rite of passage for younger people to swap music files, but never money, despite some interesting experiments, such as zopa.com, where borrowers can get money from lenders without banks being involved.
If you want to see pioneering experiments in banking you will have to go to a surprising place - Africa. And the question is, why can't we do the same here? If the Post Office is looking for a new role, it need look no farther. In Kenya, customers of M-Pesa can send money to each other from around the country in 14 seconds flat using their mobiles. In the UK it takes three days, thereby endowing the banks with a huge float of money in transit on which they can earn interest. In Kenya, people leave their money at a trusted outlet such as a shop or pharmacy, where it is loaded into their sim cards.
At a Forum Oxford future technologies conference at the weekend we were updated on the startling success of the operation. It is reckoned that 17% of the Kenyan population is on M-Pesa. As a result they don't need to carry cash any more, as everything from a can of Coke to your funeral can be paid for by phone. It works because the cash is held centrally by the bank, thereby enabling transactions to take place at very fast speeds. The average transaction is $30 (£20) because people trust it to do big ticket items.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/30/banking-technology
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