Colombia’s economy is dynamic, increasingly stable, and has shown a large degree of insulation from global economic adversity. The introduction of mobile payment devices for transaction authorization at the point of sale could enable Colombia to extend the benefits of such an economy to broader segments of the population. There is widespread adoption of mobile devices in Colombia. The ability to leverage both payment functionality and information at POS that mobile technology presents offers an opportunity to extend the benefits of financial inclusion to the underserved and unbanked. And Colombian consumers have shown widespread willingness to use mobile devices as payments media. This last is an especially important consideration in light of the identification of lack of access to financial services as one of nine “poverty traps.”2
1. Proprietary MasterCard Worldwide research.
2. Adapted from the Alkire Foster (AF) method for measuring multidimensional poverty, developed by OPHI. Site: http://www.ophi.org.uk/policy/national-policy/colombia-mpi/