Fundamo
selected by Monet to launch shared mobile money network in Pakistan
Bank Alfalah
and Warid Telecom to launch the new branchless banking service on Monet’s
shared platform
Karachi,
Pakistan, 13 March, 2013: Fundamo, a Visa company and one of the world’s
largest specialist mobile financial service providers, has been selected by Monet, an independent mobile financial services
company, to launch a mobile money network in Pakistan. The platform, now
approved by the State Bank of Pakistan, will be able to enable providers and partners
that share a common objective, to accelerate the delivery of convenient, secure
and affordable mobile financial services to the banked, unbanked and underbanked
of Pakistan.
Bank Alfalah Limited (BAFL),
the sixth largest financial institution in Pakistan, and Warid Telecom Private
Limited (Warid) have teamed up to launch a new mobile financial services brand
on the platform. The platform will enable BAFL and Warid to jointly offer
mobile and branchless banking to its existing and potential customer base. Monet provides a managed service platform, agent
management services and bill aggregation services to new financial institutions
and network operators interested in entering branchless banking services with a
faster time to market. Monet, a first of its kind provider,
is creating linkages with existing deployments, financial switches, channels
and networks to provide a standardized offering in the market.
Despite
the growth of financial services the majority of Pakistanis remain unbanked. According
to the Pakistan Access to Finance Survey, only 12 percent of the
population has access to formal financial services (A2FS, 2012). Conversely, mobile
penetration stands at nearly 70 percent (Pakistan Telecommunications Authority,
2013). A recent study by the Boston Consulting Group estimates that 35 percent
of Pakistan’s adult population will be using mobile financial services by 2020.
Now is the perfect time to introduce new branchless banking services to
Pakistan.
“We are building an open and
collaborative eco-system which benefits all the stakeholders of the financial
services ecosystem in Pakistan. Collaborative mobile financial services, as
opposed to bank-led or telco-led deployment, is the paradigm shift which will
assist in creating a bigger and less costly enabling environment for the
issuers, acquirers and service providers,” said Ali Abbas Sikander, CEO of
Monet. “Financial Institutions are looking beyond technology, and want to focus
on utilizing it to offer products that give them access to new customers with a
branchless advantage. Fundamo technology will enable easier interactions across our shared eco-system; our
Mobile Money Network. This will drive collaboration between banks, mobile
operators, merchants and distribution networks to bridge the financial services
divide between the banked and unbanked customers.”
“The
platform allows service providers to think big, start small and scale fast. The
result will be an ecosystem that that will support the long term and sustained
growth of the Pakistani mobile financial services market,” said Aletha Ling,
COO at Fundamo, a Visa company. “We have a deep understanding and commitment to
the Pakistan market having worked with a number of providers from the very
early stages of the market. We are committed to working with our clients to
achieve not only the technical but also the business success of their mobile
money projects and look forward to working with the team at Monet to leverage
our joint capabilities for market success.”
“Visa
is committed to driving financial inclusion in Pakistan,” said Kamran Siddiqi,
General Manager of Visa Middle East and North Africa. “At Visa we believe that everyone has the right to basic financial and payment
services. We see access
to financial services plays a critical role in poverty alleviation and the
acceleration of a country’s economic development. Although there has been a
significant rise of branchless banking in Pakistan, huge swaths of the
population still lack access to services. We are pleased to work with leading
companies such as Monet, Bank Alfalah and Warid Telecom to boost access to
financial services using the mobile phone.”
- ENDS-
About Monet
Monet is a neutral and independent payments solutions company serving
the Mobile financial services market in Pakistan. It envisages to fulfill the
market’s void of an independent Payment Services Provider which is enabling a
shared eco-system. This will bridge the payments divide between the banked and
the unbanked customers.
With new partner banks, merchants, billers and distribution networks
joining its Mobile Money Network, it will enable partners to reach new
customers with innovative products and services.
We at Monet are passionate about entrepreneurship and strongly believe
that convenient and cheaper access to financial services will provide much
needed impetus to entrepreneurship in the country spurring a distribution of
wealth. We aspire to be an entrepreneurial role model enabling new and exciting
business models for our customers, partners and economy at large. . For
more information, visit http://www.monet-online.com/
About
Visa Inc.
Visa is
a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses,
financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and
territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of
the world’s most advanced processing networks—VisaNet—that is capable of
handling more than 24,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection
for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does
not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s
innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer
consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later
with credit products. For more information, visit corporate.visa.com.
About Fundamo, a Visa company
Fundamo
is a wholly owned subsidiary of Visa Inc. and leading platform provider of
mobile financial services for mobile network operators and financial
institutions. Fundamo’s Enterprise Mobile Financial Services platform has been
deployed in more than 40 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East,
offering mobile financial services to unbanked and under-banked mobile
subscribers including person-to-person payments, bill payments, wireless
airtime top-up, and ticketing. The company's vision is for a truly connected financial
services ecosystem that supports the ubiquity of mobile devices. Fundamo is headquartered in Cape Town, South
Africa. For
more information, visit www.fundamo.com
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