DUSHANBE, July 21, 2014, Asia-Plus -- The National Bank of Tajikistan has reportedly presented the mobile banking service.

According to Tajik central bank, it has become possible due a joint project of the NBT, European Bank for reconstruction and Development (EBRD), German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), and International Finance Corporation (IFC).  

“Currently, the mobile banking service is available in four financial institutions of the country: Agorinvestbonk; Micro Lending Organization Avfar; Micro Lending Organization Samar; and IMON International, which is one of the largest microfinance institutions in Tajikistan,” a source at the NBT told Asia-Plus in an interview.

We will recall that the issues related to development of mobile banking were discussed in Dushanbe on February 6.  The event was organized by GIZ and International Finance Corporation (IFC).  IFC presented results of a new survey on the spread of mobile banking in Tajikistan and its compliance with international principles and standards.

Mobile banking is a system that allows customers of a financial institution to conduct a number of financial transactions through a mobile device such as a mobile phone.  The earliest mobile banking services were offered over SMS, a service known as SMS banking.  With the introduction of smart phones with WAP support enabling the use of the mobile web in 1999, the first European banks started to offer mobile banking on this platform to their customers.

Mobile banking is used in many parts of the world with little or no infrastructure, especially remote and rural areas.  This aspect of mobile commerce is also popular in countries where most of their population is unbanked. In most of these places, banks can only be found in big cities, and customers have to travel hundreds of miles to the nearest bank.