i can see it being a market disruptor.

i am not sure how you see it as a tech disruptor. it may be a disruptor of money, and financial services.

I will say both depending on the radical nature of the mobile money that is to be introduce, the existing payments system and the regulatory framework. If the regulatory framework is decades behind and the existing payments systems is also decades behind, the introduction of mobile money will be a radical disruption. However, where regulatory framework is not far behind and the existing payments system is sufficiently developed introduction of mobile payments will not necessarily be a huge disruption. Sure it will drive greater inclusion but i doubt it will be referred to as tech disruption. Some countries i.e Nigeria, have a decent payments system but we have not fully exploited mobile payments. When we do it will likely disrupt how the market perceives the way that financial services are delivered but I do not think we can necessarily say that this will lead to a market disruption. Also, it will help in your paper to clearly identify what is meant by tech/market disruption and the criteria that this is to be measured by. Hope this helps.

Mobile money payments should not be seen as the disruptive to the retail banking. Rather these are complementary to the retail banking and financial inclusion. In India, they have become quite helpful to realize the idea of the cashless digital economy.

Thank you for your input and prompt replies. Looking at your replies, I do realise how broad the question was and would here rephrase to the following:

Are Short Message Service (SMS) Mobile Money Payments(MMP) market or technological disruption or both? In this context I will also ask specifically:

Brian Barnard I do consider mobile money payments to contain elements of both technological and market disruptions. In the market aspect, they are creating new demand for their services which were not available to the underbanked before. Whereas, technologically providing simpler low end innovations (SMS services) enabling underbanked to use financial services which were out of their reach before.

Adebola Adeyemi Would you be able to provide some reasons why you think Nigeria has not fully exploited mobile payments?

Pardeep Kumar I do see them being complementary especially in India given the role that governance plays in MMP initiation towards financial inclusion. Would you still consider them as disruptive in countries where regulation is "more lenient" or still in the process of catching up or tying to establish regulations towards financial technologies?

Phenisiah Sabeta essentially regulation has restricted the deepening of mobile payment. The regulations of the central bank of nigeria makes it difficult for entity wishing to come into this area. You have high capital adequacy requirements and overlapping regulation to contend with. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) also plays a role in regulating mobile money operators depending on the service that they intend to provide.

No. They are just a convenience.

Mobile Money Payments needs bank's function,and bank can gain some benefit from it,so it's convience.

There are two things. First, we have three different categories of money: cash, banking money and electronic money. Cash and banking money (deposits) are strictly related to traditional banking. The electronic money (blockchain) is the alternative and banking system is not necessary for such circulation.

Second, the electronic money is not officially accepted by law. I call it alternative (local money). There are trials in some countries, e.g. China to create officlal cryptocurrency (e.g. cryptojuan). If the authoities do it, it can be harmful for traditional payments, retail banking etc. In such circumstances you should consider the traditional functions palyed by money and consider which of them can be played by electronic money and which cannot be.

The financial inclusion is another story. And again, for some people (societies) electronic money means "financial inclusion" but for some people it means "financial exclusion". I have seen some foreigners in China when they have had problems to pay by cash... I hope that I was able to help... All the best!