Ericsson says it is to launch mobile phone banking services, hoping to capture a big chunk of a market it estimates will be worth an annual €20 billion by 2015.

Ericsson, the world’s biggest mobile telecom equipment maker, said up to 1 billion people worldwide had mobile phones but no bank account, and would benefit from services such as money transfers.

The service will be a rival to traditional money transfer operators like Western Union and MoneyGram initially, but could replace credit cards.

Ericsson said mobile payments and money transfers could become some of the most- used mobile apps in the next two or three years. – (Reuters)