Can the mobile phone bring a range of financial transactions and services to the underbanked? That is the thesis of a new report out of Celent, the global consultancy, and Center for Financial Services Innovation.

Central to the report's argument is that – given the near ubiquity of mobile phones today and the fact that just about all of them now have Web access capabilities –  "there is vast potential for a robust suite of mobile financial management and transaction tools to strengthen the financial lives of underbanked consumers," said the report.

Celent admitted that the activity that probably seems most central to mobile financial services – that is, payments on the fly using NFC technologies or an electronic wallet – is unlikely to figure as a significant factor in its predicted revolution in cellphone banking. 

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