Comments on: Using Dialog eZ Cash

By: Lasith

Lasith — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 07:58:28 +0000

Mobile money is definitely the answer for a scattered rural population, I really hope it catches on. The fact of the matter is that rural SL is still under banked and most still keep their cash under mattress. That is another problem (mainly for the central bank), but with over 80% mobile penetration (cant remember the exact number, but its high) m-banking certainly bring a great way to franchise and extract services from the many that live outside the country’s few urban centers link Indi pointed out. Cheers to Dialog (their service still needs improvement)! If the value of the transfer is an issue during receipt, can that be broken into smaller chunks across different kades?

By: indi

indi — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 05:33:23 +0000

Yeah, I don’t see the BoC driving anything. Competition from the state banks really is an oxymoron.

It’s not free, there’s transaction charges (http://www.dialog.lk/personal/mobile/ez-cash/), but I think these are waived right now.

Mobile money obviously has benefits over banks, and the banks here really really suck.

By: Rohan Samarajiva

Rohan Samarajiva — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:43:51 +0000

If I ever heard an oxymoron it has to be “competition driven by state banks like BoC.” The massive distortions in the banking market in LK are caused by the monopolistic power of the state banks and the government tilting the scales in their favor.

I hope Dialog is levying a fee. Why should they provide a service for free?

By: Merill

Merill — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:05:32 +0000

This is where regulation needs to come in for the banking sector. Or better competition driven by state banks like BoC.

Btw is Dialog doing this like free of charge?

By: Rakhitha

Rakhitha — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 12:34:12 +0000

Doing small micro payments for freelancers are not practical through online banking any more. It used to be sampath bank when third party transfers (transfer to non sampath bank accounts) were free. but not any more.

Now sampath bank change 150/= per third party transaction. Most other banks including HSBC charge similar amounts. Imagine paying a 150/= charge to transfer 300 rupees for a translater. To make it work you will have to wait until freelancer reach a higher payout level (at least 20 times the transaction cost).

This is one reason why sri lanka need paypal receiving capability. Imagine how much people who make various handcrafts can make through places like ebay.

By: indi

indi — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:23:13 +0000

I don’t know if he has a bank account, there’s certainly no HSBC in Ampara, the transfers are instant on the mobile, there are more eZ Cash outlets than banks, and

my horrid business bank (Nations Trust) doesn’t do online transfers. And I don’t want to use money brokers. This works. I can just pay people through my phone, and it’s faster than using online banking.

By: Merill

Merill — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:53:36 +0000

Why don’t you just transfer the money to his bank account from your account. You can do the transfer online through your bank’s site and he can withdraw with his ATM. I know for a fact that HSBC allows you to transfer to another HSBC bank immediately and for HSBC to another bank it takes a day.

I transfer money from Australia to people in Colombo by simply transferring to a money broker here and the money is received in Colombo on the same day.