Article at a glance:

Could mobile banking go global?

Banks and telcos have been disappointed by early results from the mobile financial services they launched in developed markets. But the authors suggest that in emerging markets, such services, based on today's mobile technology, could yet be money winners in the short to medium term.

The take-away

To capture this opportunity and deliver the right services to the right markets at the right times, financial firms and telcos will have to forge partnerships with each other—and possibly with merchants and retail chains as well.