Will Monetary System Change Happen Regionally?

With IMF reforms stalled in the US and the IMF's credibility seemingly called into question more and more over various issues , it seems like major monetary system change on a global scale is not likely to happen soon. But that doesn't mean there is no significant change happening anywhere.

As we follow events here it is becoming more apparent that change is happening now more at a regional level than a global level. We have already extensively covered the BRIC nations plans to start up a new BRIC bank and to establish a large currency reserve account. So it is clear those nations are forming a regional bloc to move forward on their own.

But research we have done indicates that there are other regions in the world where new innovations are taking hold that may lead to major changes on a broader scale. We have noted here the new mobile money innovations that are operating in places like the South Pacific by Klickex. In Africa, M-Pesa is a mobile payments system that is allowing the unbanked to gain access to financial resources. All over the globe these new mobile money technologies are gaining traction and allowing more people access.

It seems that more and more various regions of the globe are becoming testing grounds for new ideas. New mobile payment systems, new  mobile money transfer systems, and real time mobile currency exchange systems are showing up and proving themselves.

In Africa, we have the Southern Africa Development Committee which is a regional association of 15 nations working together as a region to promote commerce and trade.
 
That regions Central Banks even work to achieve close cooperation with each other. 
We are aware of some innovative payment systems that have been in progress there that are interesting. We'll have more on that in some posts later this year.

As these innovative new mobile money transfer systems expand we can expect that it will become easier and easier to move money around the world. We can expect that it will become easier and easier to exchange currencies quickly at reasonable costs. We can even envision a time when new regional asset backed virtual reserve currencies could be tacked on to these systems to add currency stability on a regional basis.

As these various innovations prove themselves on a trial basis in various regions, we can expect that at some point in the future they could be tied together on more a global basis. This process will probably take some time, but it means that major monetary system change is likely to happen eventually even if not prompted sooner by some kind of financial crisis.

The world is changing and will certainly look different in the future. Perhaps global change will roll out regionally first. It is already underway now if you know where to look.