Internet entrepreneurs take on financial services giants to give more consumers a greater range of choices in money management

Starting in the fall, you'll only need an email address or alias and a password to pay from any of your Visa-linked credit or debit accounts under the new "digital wallet" system. Visa says it will hold and process some competitors' cards too. And if you opt in, retailers will be able to offer you deals and discounts through it.

The really cool, pay-with-your-phone news comes in a confusing phrase of corporate-speak lower down in the announcement. The company notes that the digital wallet upgrades will "support NFC payments through the innovative Visa payWave application and deliver a wide range of transaction services to accommodate multiple commerce scenarios." In English, Visa indicated it is working harder to turn your phone into your credit card, soon.

In South Africa, an estimated 13 million people — 27% of the population — are currently without bank accounts. Simultaneously, 94% of the adult population possess a cell phone. Just as M-PESA realized the potential for mobile technology to bring banking to the masses at low costs, the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship and Forus Financial Transaction Services will similarly be launching the Mahala Free Banking Platform in May 2011.

How many Facebook fans (now called “likes”) does the average financial institution attract? The Financial Brand examined 20 banks and 20 credit unions on Facebook, comparing the number of Facebook likes to asset size and customer/member base.

Banks get an average of one Facebook like for 710 customers. Credit unions, just as they do on Twitter, fare much better, attracting an average of one Facebook like for every 126 members.

In total, the 20 banks included in the study had a combined customer base of 85 million people. Total Facebook likes: 120,448. That’s 0.14% of all customers.

For the 20 credit unions in the study, the combined membership totaled 2.6 million people. Only 21,002 of them (0.8%) have liked their credit union on Facebook.

Banks, on average receive one Facebook like for every $23 million in assets. Credit unions again do better, yielding one like for every $1.5 million in assets.

The results of this Facebook study are very similar to what The Financial Brand found when analyzing Twitter followers.

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