An IoT architecture for financial services in developing countries

Access to financial services for people living in rural areas of developing countries is limited due to the high cost of infrastructure. We present a financial payment architecture for developing countries based on a near field communication device for payment which is reconciled with backend banking systems using a cloud-based Internet of Things platform. Strategies to correlate payment data with the banks back-end systems in regions with limited cellular and Internet coverage are proposed. The benefits of providing basic financial services to people in developing countries is increased economic activity and growth. The benefits of utilising an electronic payment device are theft, forgery, and money laundering prevention. The proposed architecture is discussed and an analysis of the initial cost of setting up a cloud-based payment service indicate that it is feasible and profitable to implement an IoT platform as a banking service to people in developing countries.