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Mobile banking could raise Serbia's GDP by USD 2bn by 2020 - consultancy [IntelliNews - Weekly Reports](IntelliNews - Weekly Reports Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The introduction of mobile banking in Serbia – a service expected to become available by end-2014, could raise the country's GDP by USD 2bn and lead to the opening of 23,000 new jobs, according to an analysis of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) quoted by daily Danas on July 16. The daily said that the analysis was made back in 2011 for Norway's Telenor to present to the telecom operator the potential of the mobile financial service in Serbia. For comparison, Serbia's annual GDP has been in the range of USD 41-45bn in the past three years. The analysis also shows that the economic boost from the new service will also result in an additional USD 400mn in tax revenue for the state budget. The study is based on the presumption that a bank owned by a mobile operator would be easily accessible for all its customers in towns and villages. It will be also available for people with or without work, which would ease the approval of new credits that could go for investment in own business and eventually in opening new jobs. Telenor probably asked for the analysis in order to evaluate its plans to enter Serbia's mobile banking market. Telenor Serbia is expected to launch the service in the second half of 2014 after acquiring at the end of 2013 local lender KBC Banka (previously part of Belgium's KBC Group). In addition, earlier this week local media reported that state-owned Telekom Srbija has submitted a bid to buy the majority stake of local Dunav Banka, aiming to join its biggest competitor in the mobile banking race. (c) 2014 Emerging Markets Direct Media Holdings LLC Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |