While mobile phone banking is a breeze for handling financial transactions, it seems to be more popular in emerging markets than developed markets.

The reason behind this is that, in developed markets, there are plenty of other options available for conducting transactions. The infrastructure is already in place for other easy ways of money payment. One example is paying bills off with the home broadband connection.

On the other hand, in developing markets, people rely more on mobile phones for their bill payments. In many cases, this is the ony means for financial transactions. Hence, in recent years, Malaysia, Cambodia and Brazil, have seen mobile phone banking becoming very popular.

Despite the lower demand for mobile phone banking in developed markets, Carphone Warehouse and Monitise in the UK, are planning to design a mobile phone banking service, which will serve as a standard. Any retailer who wishes to offer mobile banking can use this service, without needing to start from scratch.

The service is expected to be available in the 1st half of this year.