Anam Mobile has unveiled a service for North American mobile networks that will allow global money transfers via SMS. The SMS Money Transfer service enables consumers to send money to people in their contact list using a simple three-step procedure. Firstly, the user writes an SMS that begins #cash followed by the amount they wish to send, and selects the person they want to send it to from their address book. The system then confirms the transaction and asks for the senders PIN. When the PIN is entered correctly, the money is instantly debited from the senders bank account as a virtual ATM transaction, and simultaneously credited to the bank account of the recipient.
Anam Mobile says that SMS Money Transfer is appropriate to a wide variety of scenarios.  For example, the company says, the service could be used by parents to send emergency funds to their children at college. Similarly, it could be used by migrant workers to send money back to relatives in their home countries. The service could also be set up to pay bills or invoices for work transactions.
Following the interest that we have had for the service in Europe, we believed it was time to launch the service to North American carriers, says Anam CEO, Gerry McKenna. The key to this service is that it delivers a lot of value to consumers, but does not require them to alter their behaviour; it just means that people can now do more with SMS. With the right support from the carrier, SMS Money Transfer could become a significant new service for them.