YellowPepper, a provider of mobile financial services in Latin America, has launched YellowPepper Mony, a new service targeted to the unbanked.

YellowPepper Mony lets financial institutions deliver services such as mobile money transfers, international remittances, mobile bill payments and pre-paid mobile phone service to consumers. The service was created as part of a partnership with Fundamo.

“The availability of YellowPepper Mony will facilitate the sharing of mobile remittances to improve the day-to-day life of the underserved and unbanked in Latin America and to enable deployment of financial services to them,” said Serge Elkiner, founder/president of YellowPepper, Miami.

YellowPepper is a provider of products and services that let mobile financial transactions take place between financial institutions, businesses and consumers in Latin America. It has 1.5 million users and operates in Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru and Panama.

Fundamo is a mobile banking and payment software services provider.

Reaching the unbanked
Mr. Elkiner said YellowPepper partnered with Fundamo to provide the underserved and unbanked ways to conduct financial transactions without the need of a bank account.

The partnership lets unbanked consumers do financial tasks such as transfers, bill pay, SMS notifications and remittances via mobile.

YellowPepper said it partnered with Fundamo because it has expertise in rolling out mobile wallets in other parts of world.

For YellowPepper Mony, the company is targeting the underserved and unbanked in Latin America, which is between 70-80 percent of the population, depending on the country, per Mr. Elkiner.

According to YellowPepper, 78 percent of Latin American residents have mobile devices.

The new service will be promoted via billboards, radio announcements and print adverting. YellowPepper also plans to launch guerrilla and online marketing.

Consumers are ready to embrace mobile banking.

A Mercatus study found that more consumers will use mobile banking than online services by 2015.

The study also found that banks can improve customer acquisition by 60 percent by including mobile in their suite of services (see story).

Consumers expect mobile services from their financial institution, a ClairMail executive told Mobile Commerce Daily (see story).

“This product will facilitate the everyday life of underserved and unbanked, enabling them to conduct financial transactions over their cell phone,” Mr. Elkiner said. “It facilitates moving from a cash economy to an electronic economy.”