Nokia Money: The new mobile financial service from Nokia

According to a statement released by Nokia, the Nokia Money is designed to be “as simple and convenient as making a voice call or sending an SMS.”

The concept behind Nokia Mobile is built around the fact that there are currently 4 billion mobile phones but only 1.6 billion bank accounts.

The service by Nokia will allow consumers to use their mobile phones to send money to other people and to pay for goods, pay utility bills and top up their sim cards with credit.

To support this services the statement said Nokia is building a wide network of Nokia Money agents that will provide facilities for consumers to deposit or withdraw cash.

Nokia Money would be useful in developing countries where access to banking is restricted but mobile phones have penetrated to even the remotest of corners.

"Rural consumers will particularly benefit from money transfers and, for urban consumers used to online services, we are enabling services such as payment of utility bills, purchase of train and movie tickets, top-ups, all through their mobile phones," said Teppo Paavola, VP and Head of Corporate Business Development, Nokia.

"Nokia Money is simple to use, secure and available across different operator networks and on virtually any mobile phone. This means millions of new consumers will soon be able to manage all their financial needs from their mobile phone," added Paavola.

The first glimpse of the Nokia Money financial service will be demonstrated at the Nokia World on 2nd and 3rd of September 2009 in Germany and deployed in early 2010.