Each m-banking service combines a technological solution and a financial services solution. mChek combines a technological solution of (b) SIM-based application plus a financial solution of (1) serving customers with preexisting credit cards.

Each combination has advantages and disadvantages, vis-a-vis security, scalability, interoperability, ease-of-use, etc. , and depends on the players in the marketplace and the laws governing telecom and banking in each country.

The enthusiasm in the economic development community is focused around using m-banking to provide access to people who currently do not have a bank account—the ‘unbanked’. So in that sense, services which run on simple/inexpensive phones are attractive because they have more reach into low-income communities. Some think that the best way to do this is to have banks as partners, thus giving people bank accounts they access exclusively via the mobile channel. Others look to third-party or operator-led models where ‘unbanked’ users get access to payments, transfers and stored value functionality without opening an actual banking account. Only time will tell which model(s) will prove most successful at bringing financial services to the unbanked.