Norwegian telecom group Telenor (News - Alert) recently released a study by a Boston Consulting Group called, “Socio-economic impact of mobile financial services,” which found that mobile financial services are expected to improve the lives of around two billion people in developing countries and boost economies by 2020.

The report focused on five countries; Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia and Serbia and explored the effects of mobile financial services in these five markets over the next decade.

In India, the number of people with formal savings accounts could increase by 142 million while in Bangladesh, it could increase tax revenues by $500 million. Serbia could have 23,000 new jobs created and economic inequality in Malaysia could be reduced by five percent, becoming roughly equivalent to that of Canada today, according to the report findings.

"As a global telecommunications operator, we have a unique role to play in the development and expansion of mobile financial services. We believe that mobile financial services will be one of the key drivers for financial inclusion going forward and thus has the potential to be the most powerful tool for economic and social development in emerging economies," said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, Telenor chief executive.

In the developing world, more than 2.5 billion adults, or approximately 72 percent of the population, are unbanked; they have no access to traditional financial services like banks or credit cards. Instead, people borrow money, obtain short-term credit from employers or seek out moneylenders to get by.

However, nearly 2.5 billion people in these same emerging economies have mobile phones.  There could be up to 2 billion mobile phone users who are currently unbanked that could be served through mobile financial services.

"We believe that mobile financial services will be one of the key drivers for financial inclusion going forward and thus has the potential to be the most powerful tool for economic and social development in emerging economies," said Baksaas.

Mobile financial services can reduce financial exclusion by 5 percent to 20 percent through 2020 and increase gross domestic product (GDP) by up to 5 percent.

Pakistan, in particular, will potentially see a 3 percent increase in its GDP.

Telenor's EasyPaisa program in Pakistan started with 2,200 retail outlets in October 2009 and now has 12,600 retailers spread over 650 cities across the country. It has some 10 million estimated users and the total value of money transfers has reached 17.4 billion Pakistan rupees (USD 167.2 million).