An estimated 2.5 billion adults do not have access to banks. Unsurprisingly, they are among the world’s most destitute: According to a report released by the World Bank and other development groups, about three out of four adults living on less than $2 a day, from farmers in Tanzania to slum-dwellers in India to seamstresses in Bolivia, lack an account with a formal financial institution.
But many of these people do have cell phones. Globally, there are some 7 billion mobile-phone subscriptions, up from about 2 billion in 2005. Beyond simply helping people stay in touch, the devices are being used to report fair-market prices for crops, document wartime atrocities, and even track the spread of disease. The technology is also reinventing a key tool for economic growth: banking.
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