Mobile Money Africa

Oberthur Technologies, the world’s second largest supplier of smart card solutions, successfully completed the deployment of its M-Commerce security solution for Zain’s 15 sub Saharan African operations. Zain’s Mobile Commerce solution, Zap, is a state-of-the-art SIM security application and security gateway which enables Zain customers to use their mobile phone to securely pay bills and to pay for goods and services.

The service currently allows Zain customers in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda through their mobile phones to receive and send money to friends and family as well as to receive money from any bank account around the world and send money to other bank accounts. They can also top up their own, or someone else’s, airtime account and manage their bank accounts. Over 100 million people in East Africa can now benefit from Zap. The service which will be rolled out soon in all Zain’s operation across the Middle East and Africa, has a potential customer base of 600 million people, many of whom have never had access to formal financial services.

“For any market in the world, the combination of services we are providing through Zap mobile commerce would be exciting,” declared Dr Saad Al Barrak CEO of Zain, “but when set in an African context, the implications are especially profound given the critical economic needs of many Africans living the countries in which Zain operates. In this sense, what we deliver contributes to more than just a healthy bottom line; it genuinely helps improve lives.”

“We selected Oberthur Technologies as our security solutions partner because of the company’s’ proven leadership in the field of mobile smart card and security solutions, their global support for our offer, and the desire of the team to take the initial first steps to innovate technologically advanced and customized solutions to meet Zain’s ground-breaking service offering,” stated George Held, Marketing Director, Products and Innovation Zain Group.

Thierry Siminger, Managing Director RMEA for the Card Systems Division of Oberthur Technologies commented, “This partnership has enabled the two innovative leaders, Oberthur and Zain, to raise the bar for future m-commerce solutions. Our successful partnership goes back many years and continues to grow from strength to strength.”

About Zain

Zain is a leading telecommunications operator across the Middle East and Africa providing mobile voice and data services to 69.5 million active customers as at 30 June 2009. In terms of country footprint, Zain is the 3rd largest mobile operator in the world with a commercial presence in 24 countries.

Zain operates in the following countries: Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Palestine (currently known as Paltel Group), Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. In Lebanon, the company manages ‘mtc-touch’ on behalf of the government. In Morocco, Zain owns 31% of Wana Telecom through a joint venture.

Zain offers innovative services in its markets such as ‘One Network’, the world’s first borderless mobile telecommunications network enabling customers when abroad to receive calls and sms without charge and to make voice and data calls at local rates throughout 20 countries in Africa and the Middle East. This service allows a customer to top up airtime in one’s home country or from more than 1,000,000 outlets within Zain’s One Network footprint.

The Zain brand is wholly owned by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC, which is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (Stock ticker: ZAIN). Zain is listed in the Financial Times’ Global 500 Index which ranks the world’s largest companies based on market capitalization ( http://www.ft.com/reports/ft5002008). Zain aims to become one of the top ten mobile operators in the world by end of the year 2011. For more, please visit http://www.zain.com or email info@zain.com

About Oberthur Technologies

With sales of 882 million Euros in 2008, Oberthur Technologies is a world leader in the field of secure technologies. Innovation and high quality services ensure Oberthur Technologies’ strong positioning in its main target markets:

– Card Systems: The world’s second largest provider of security
and identification based on smart card technology and associated
services for mobile, payment, transport, digital TV and convergence
markets.
– Identity: Leading international supplier for the manufacture and
personalization of secure identity documents such as passport, identity
card, driving license or health care card – traditional and electronic
– and associated services for both governmental and corporate markets.
– Security printing: World’s third largest private security printer
specialized in high security for the production of banknotes, checks
and other fiduciary documents in more than fifty countries.
– Cash protection: World leader in the emerging market of
intelligent systems to secure cash-in-transit and ATM.

Close to its customers, Oberthur Technologies benefits from an industrial and commercial presence across all five continents.

Mastercard

N.Y., Nov. 16 - MasterCard today announced the introduction of the MasterCard Mobile Payments Gateway, a mobile payments processing platform that enables financial institutions and mobile network operators to deliver end-to-end mobile payments solutions through the MasterCard Worldwide Network.

Itau Unibanco and Redecard, along with mobile network operator Vivo, will be the first to use the MasterCard Mobile Payments Gateway to deliver mobile payment solutions to the banks’ customers in Brazil. The service will give consumers the ability to use their phone as a mobile wallet and link their existing credit, debit or prepaid MasterCard or Maestro card accounts to their mobile phone to fund mobile-initiated payments.

The Mobile Payments Gateway is a turnkey mobile payment processing platform that allows issuers, acquirers, merchants and mobile network operators to quickly and cost-effectively provide customized mobile solutions in developing payments markets by tapping into the MasterCard Worldwide Network, the payments industry’s only fully globally integrated network. As a result, banked and unbanked mobile consumers gain access to a wide range of MasterCard Mobile payments solutions that provide greater payment convenience and security over cash–using their mobile phone to make purchases, send and receive money between family and friends, transfer funds between accounts, pay bills, deposit funds such as payroll or social benefits, top up mobile airtime, load value to prepaid accounts, get cash from ATMs, and keep track of their balances and activities with mobile alerts.

MasterCard is working with Smart Hub, Inc. (SMART HUB, a subsidiary of Philippine-based Smart Communications, Inc.) to leverage its mobile payments technology to develop the MasterCard Mobile Payments Gateway. Requirements for development of a mobile payments infrastructure vary from market to market. By integrating SMART HUB’s capabilities, MasterCard has created an open mobile payment processing platform through the MasterCard Payments Gateway to facilitate the launch of MasterCard Mobile payment solutions in developing markets.

MasterCard is helping to transform financial services with mobile innovation to fulfill a global market need. Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), an independent policy and research center housed at the World Bank, and the GSMA Association report that there are more than 4 billion people worldwide who have a mobile phone, but far fewer mobile phone users have a bank account- with the number to grow from 1 to 1.7 billion by 2012(1). The Mobile Payments Gateway enables them to benefit from secure and convenient mobile payment services that were previously unavailable to them. At the same time, participants in the mobile payments value chain can realize the significant potential for mobile growth outside of the markets they traditionally serve–providing opportunities for financial institutions to introduce payment and financial services to unbanked consumers and mobile network operators to offer value-added services for mobile payments.

“The Mobile Payments Gateway will help to make mobile payments a way of life for mobile phone users around the world,” said Joshua Peirez, group executive of Innovative Platforms for MasterCard Worldwide. “Through our global, integrated payment network we are efficiently connecting financial institutions, merchants and consumers together to mobilize MasterCard payment solutions in a way that truly reflects today’s on-the-go lifestyles.”

“We are pleased to introduce a mobile payments solution that reinforces our innovative positioning in the market,” said Fernado Teles, managing director, Itau Unibanco Holding. “For Itau, it is important to not only bring cutting-edge products but also ensure that it offers our customers the security and convenience they expect from a banking transaction.”

“The MasterCard Mobile Payments Gateway is complementary with the existing Redecard solutions and we are honored to be part of this project,” says Roberto Mediros, President and CEO of Redecard. “This platform reinforces our leadership in mobile payments solutions. This is a breakthrough for mobile payments around the globe. Democratization and innovative solutions have always been priorities for Redecard and the MasterCard Mobile Payments Gateway is precisely aligned.”

“Vivo, the largest mobile operator in Brazil with over 48 million customers, is a natural choice for this partnership, due to its installed user base and broad service outreach, in more than 3,400 cities nationwide,” according to Hugo Janeba, Vivo’s Executive Vice President of Marketing and Innovation. “This is an important service we are glad to offer to our customers, empowering their connectivity so they can make the most out of their mobile phones. The mobile payments market is an expanding opportunity in the local scenario and we are sure this initiative will be a success.”

“While in the region there are some mobile payments solutions in the market that help unbanked mobile users transfer money or top-up prepaid accounts, these solutions have been limited in providing the breadth of payment transaction services for the underserved consumer to completely manage their finances,” said Richard Hartzell, president, Latin America and the Caribbean region, MasterCard Worldwide. “I am pleased that the Latin America and Caribbean region will be the first to offer the MasterCard Mobile Payments Gateway, which will benefit every constituent in the payments ecosystem–helping financial institutions and mobile network operators reduce their mobile operating expenses and costs to serve consumers while enabling merchants to cost-effectively expand payment acceptance using their mobile phone. This will allow consumers to enjoy a more robust suite of mobile payment services that makes their lives easier.”

Following the launch in Brazil, MasterCard will introduce MasterCard Mobile payments solutions through the Mobile Payments Gateway in select markets around the world.

“Successful growth of mobile payments around the world requires participation, communication and collaboration among all members of the mobile payments value chain,” says Napoleon L. Nazareno, President and CEO of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company and Smart Communications, Inc. “We are excited to build upon a successful history with MasterCard to advance mobile payments innovation in the industry by delivering compelling solutions that combine the global MasterCard brand and world-class payment network with our extensive digital telecommunications capabilities and world-first wireless data services.”

(1) CGAP-GSMA Mobile Money Market Sizing Study, June 2009

About MasterCard Worldwide

MasterCard Worldwide advances global commerce by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, businesses, cardholders and merchants worldwide. As a franchisor, processor and advisor, MasterCard develops and markets payment solutions, processes approximately 21 billion transactions each year, and provides industry-leading analysis and consulting services to financial-institution customers and merchants. Powered by the MasterCard Worldwide Network and through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro® and Cirrus®, MasterCard serves consumers and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information go to www.mastercard.com.

About Itau Unibanco

The Brazilian bank Itau Unibanco Holding, one of the 15 largest banks in the world, offers a full range of services to its local and institutional clients around the world. These include alternative investments, investment banking, asset management, brokerage and investment structure. Today, Brazil has a growing domestic market supported by strong fundamentals with all time low interest rates and historically low unemployment rates. Fiscal and monetary reforms have led to stable economic conditions with a growing middle class and a housing and construction boom. The 2014 Football World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympic Games will demand strong infrastructure investments for the next few years supporting increased economic activity.

About Redecard

Redecard is responsible for the capture and transmission of transactions on credit cards of the MasterCard® Diners Club International flags and debit cards of MasterCard Maestro, among others. The company accredits and promotes commercial establishments and it also partners for banks and several segments in the retail market. Developing ultimate technology in the area, Redecard deals with the installation and management of a chain of electronic terminals throughout Brazil to offer security and agility considering the 1.8 million transactions the company processes every year.

About Vivo

Vivo Participacoes (NYSE: VIV) provides mobile telecommunication services, cellular phone data transmission and mobile internet services throughout Brazil. Brazilian market leader in cellular telephony, Vivo is the brand of a joint venture between Portugal Telecom and Telefonica, which started in 2002. Covering more than 3.5 thousand municipalities, the company has the country’s largest network and it is also the largest mobile telephony group in the South Hemisphere.

Vivo’s main goal is to provide more and better services for customers to be able to connect themselves – whenever they wish, however they wish, from wherever they wish, every time more. Thus, it manages to stimulate the network society, which brings along a huge source of opportunities for people to develop progress and live better. Accordingly, Vivo feeds a virtuous cycle which is reflected on the self-sustainable evolution of its own business.

About Smart Communications, Inc.

Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) is the Philippines’ leading wireless services provider with 38.5 million subscribers on its GSM network as of June 2009. SMART has built a reputation for innovation, having introduced world-first wireless data services, including mobile commerce services such as Smart Money, Smart Load and Smart Padala. SMART also offers 3G and HSPA services. Its Smart Link service provides communications to the global maritime industry. Smart Broadband, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary, offers a wireless broadband service, Smart BRO. SMART is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Philippines’ leading telecommunications carrier, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT). For more information, visit www.smart.com.ph.

Contact Information

MasterCard Worldwide: Erica Harvill; erica_harvill@mastercard.com; 914-249-6848

Itau Unibanco: 55 11 5019-8880/8881

Redecard: Cesar Calejon; cesar.calejon@maquina.inf.br; 55 11 121-1463 / 8874-5148

Smart Communications, Inc.: Ramon Isberto, RRIsberto@smart.com.ph; 632 5113101

Vivo: Fernanda Ferraz; fernanda.ferraz@vivo.com.br; 55 11 9621 7795

Expatriates from India, Pakistan, Jordan, Indonesia, Philippines, and Sri Lanka living, working, or visiting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can send airtime to add additional credit to prepaid phones of their relatives in these respective markets, a step to keep these communities well connected with their loved ones and making their life easier. Thanks to a newly launched partnership between STC, Saudi Arabia’s national telecommunications provider and Transfer To™, the global mobile airtime transfers company, STC will provide for the first time in the Gulf the international balance transfer services.

Following the announcement, Eric Barbier, CEO of Transfer To™ expressed his delight on this new partnership, “We are very excited to have STC as our first client in the Middle East. STC is the region’s leading telecommunications provider and the largest in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

Transfer To™ operates a global airtime remittance network interconnecting the mobile operators’ prepaid users. Simply by SMS, foreign workers can recharge the prepaid mobile phone of their relatives back home. Airtime remittance enables migrants to send small value amounts: 200 million migrants remit $300 billion every year.

Commenting on the deal, Mr. Jameel Al Molhem, Vice president of Personal Services Unit at STC, added “Expatriates and visitors now have an innovative mobile service to stay in touch with their families and support them from Saudi Arabia. The cross border transfer is immediate and simply triggered by SMS.”

“The STC International Credit Transfer service enables the strong expatriates’ communities in the Kingdom to send airtime to top up the prepaid phones of their relatives in India, Pakistan, Jordan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Recently STC has extended its airtime transfer offer to Egypt, enabling Egyptians residing in or visiting Saudi Arabia to recharge Vodafone Egypt prepaid phones” continued Eric Barbier.

Through its partnership with Transfer To™, STC now has an ideal solution to complement its expatriates subscribers’ regular money transfers, by enabling easy, real time and secure sending of small value amounts to friends and family members back home.

Thanks to Transfer To™, mobile operators, retailers, banks and money transfer companies can offer an innovative and differentiating mobile value added service to their ethnic segment – an underserved market with a high telecom spending usage.

With more than 100 migration corridors fully covered over 5 continents, Transfer To™ is the leading global player in the international airtime remittance space.

About Transfer To™
Transfer To™, a Fixed & Mobile brand, operates a global mobile airtime network enabling small value transfers through mobile phone. With this solution, migrants can send mobile credit from their mobile phone or through retailers, banks or money transfer companies to their friends and relatives back home. It is a fast, reliable and convenient solution for international mobile top-up. For more information, please visit the following website: www.transfer-to.com

About STC
STC is the leading national telecommunications services provider in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. STC provides four key services: Home services which include PSTN, broadband DSL, Personal services which include mobile telephone services and value added services, Enterprise services which provide advanced business data solutions to enterprises and Wholesale services that provide network services to other local operators. In the recent years STC grew beyond its local borders and went global forming a network of business and investments in various Gulf countries, Asia, and Africa. The company is present in Kuwait, Bahrain, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, and South Africa enabling it to provide services to a bigger customer base and increasing its total number of customers externally by studying and evaluating investment opportunities. For more information, visit STC on the Internet: http://www.stc.com.sa/

For further details please contact:
Jean-Marc DESVAUX
Marketing and Communications Director
jm.desvaux@transfer-to.com

Movirtu, the supplier of innovative network infrastructure solutions for mobile operators servicing rural poor communities, has announced the launch of MXPay at AfricaCom, Africa’s Premier Communications Congress and Exhibition that took place in Cape Town 11-12 November.

Mobile phone technology is making it possible to reduce the cost of providing reliable, affordable financial services to the unbanked, however 80% of the people living below the poverty line do not own a phone or a SIM card required to use these services. MXPay enables mobile operators to deploy existing mobile payment systems to those people living on less than $2 a day without the need for the user to own a phone or SIM card, thus drastically reducing the cost of entry for these services.

“Everyone is talking about banking the unbanked,” said Andrew Fok, VP Engineering of Movirtu. “We are enabling banking of the unphoned”.

Movirtu partners with mobile operators who have an existing mobile payment service to launch the service in a specific country. Users subscribe to the mobile payment service and are given a mobile phone number on a paper card which they can use to send and receive remittances using community phones or other people’s mobile phones. Alternatively if a subscriber already has a SIM card, they can send and receive payments without the need to swap SIM cards and risk leaving personal data on other people’s phones. NGOs and welfare organizations can also use the service to distribute funds to specific people without the need to buy mobile phones or SIM cards.

“We have been listening to those people living at the Base of the Pyramid and their needs,” said Nigel Waller, Founder and CEO of Movirtu. “We are striving to help people escape poverty by helping them to build a personal identity”.

MXPay will be available initially for mobile operators located in Africa and South Asia.

About Movirtu

Movirtu is a supplier of innovative network infrastructure solutions for mobile operators located in emerging markets to help them create access to basic phone services for more than a billion people earning less than two dollars a day.

The company’s MXShare product enables subscribers, who cannot afford to buy a handset, to own a virtual phone account with their own telephone number which they can access from other people’s mobile phones. By enabling basic phone services Movirtu is helping people access jobs, raise incomes, access displaced family members and, increasingly, is acting as an enabler to send remittances over the mobile phone network. Movirtu is a private company, headquartered in London, UK with offices in Johannesburg, South Africa. www.movirtu.com.

The U.K. mobile banking technology vendor Monitise PLC is planning to expand into Uganda.

The London company said Monday that its Ugandan expansion, funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund, is focused on the underbanked, and is aimed at helping them achieve the means to eventually graduate to more conventional banking services.

The fund provides financing for private companies to encourage new business ideas in African countries.

Monitise’s mobile services include person-to-person payments, bill payment and e-commerce.

“The U.K. has highly regulated and well-developed payments systems which we, as consumers, can easily take for granted,” Alastair Lukies, Monitise’s chief executive, said in a press release. “In markets with little or no payments infrastructure, particularly in the rural areas, the mobile phone is providing a bridgehead for transformational services.”

Monitise also operates a joint venture in the United States, Monitise Americas, with Fidelity National Information Services Inc.’s Metavante Technologies Inc. unit

Monitise set to support growing initiatives for the unbanked majority in Africa

November 9, 2009 – Monitise, the UK firm leading the field in international mobile banking and payments and now pioneering mobile banking in developing countries, is poised to help millions of Africans after successfully developing and testing appropriate technology for Uganda.
It will now extend its proven mobile banking and payments infrastructure and its considerable experience in its deployment to Africa in a regulatory compliant way. Most importantly this means that Monitise will support initiatives for unbanked people with a clear bridge to future banking services.
The move reflects the growing industry recognition that the Monitise ecosystem approach is what is needed to take mobile money beyond trials and into sustainability.
The business aims to enable the millions of Africans who do not have a bank account to manage their finances via their mobile phone – sending money to friends and family, topping up pre-pay phones, paying bills, shopping and trading.
Lord Davies of Abersoch, Minister of State for Trade Promotion and Investment, said: “Monitise is a great example of a British company providing a high technology solution for the challenging African markets; helping Africans to increase their access to secure financial transactions and combining a successful model with a sustainable social impact.”
Monitise is being supported in its efforts by a US $1.5 million grant from the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund to set up its business in Uganda, which will roll into Monitise’s pending partnership in East Africa with electronic switching and payments firm Paynet.
Alastair Lukies, chief executive officer of Monitise, said: “With the financial backing of the AECF, we are now able to expand our robust technology systems into Africa.
“The UK has highly regulated and well developed payments systems which we, as consumers, can easily take for granted. In markets with little or no payments infrastructure, particularly in the rural areas, the mobile phone is providing a bridgehead for transformational services. We are proud to be a UK company that can do our small part in connecting people to financial service in new ways.
“The AECF recognises that the beauty of Monitise’s Mobile Money Manager platform is that people across Africa could potentially tap into it, sending money home, shopping wherever, or banking with whoever they choose.”
Monitise is one of the first companies to benefit from the AECF fund, which offers private sector companies with innovative business ideas like-for-like investment.
Hugh Scott, Director of AECF, said: “We very much believe that our investment of $1.5m in Monitise’s system will, in the near future, bear fruit for huge numbers of people in Africa who will gain the opportunity to unleash their saving and spending power through mobile money.”
The latest addition to Monitise’s Mobile Money platform allows anyone with a mobile phone to use it as a secure electronic wallet without needing a bank account or credit card.
It can be loaded with money to be used as cash at a shop, sent to another phone or even to a bank.
Banks, mobile network operators, merchants, utility companies and microfinance institutions connected to the platform can harness vast economies of scale by not having to build their own individual connections to each other and the wider financial system.
This approach reduces the costs of bank-grade mobile transaction and payment services, providing more affordable services for people.
In developing this service, Monitise has added another mobile channel, USSD, to its armoury, allowing even the most basic types of handset to access financial services securely.
Monitise has recently opened new offices in Uganda to deliver its platform. The Bank of Uganda is happy for Monitise to begin offering services to banks in the country, which in turn, will request formal authorisation to launch the services.
Recent research shows that 80 per cent of people in Africa do not have a bank account but that half have a mobile phone.
Monitise has already been recognised as a global technology pioneer by the World Economic Forum for its ability to help social change and development.

Ends

Notes to editors

1. Monitise plc (LSE: MONI.L) has created the world’s first mobile money networks, which allow customers of multiple banks and mobile operators to perform banking and payment transactions directly from their mobile handset. With live services in the UK and in the USA, where it is in partnership with FIS, the company is currently working with international partners to deliver similar safe, secure mobile banking and payment services in territories worldwide.

2. Current key partners include VocaLink, FIS, Visa, Standard Chartered Bank, PCCW, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, first direct, Alliance & Leicester, Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Ulster Bank, Carphone Warehouse, Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile and 3.

3. The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA) fund the AECF. See www.aecfafrica.org for more information on the AECF.

Media Contacts

Monitise

Lucy McCartney, Bell Pottinger Business & Brand
Direct dial: + 44 (0) 20 7861 2507
Mobile: +44 (0) 7944 611570
lmccartney@bell-pottinger.co.uk

Western Union

M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan

RIYADH — Eight Western Union centers in Riyadh have been shut after the money transfer services provider terminated its contract with a local partner, threatening jobs.

Director of Corporate Communications Elena Shalneva confirmed the company had closed the so-called agent locations after cutting ties with Mohammed A. Al-Fanih and Partners for Exchange.

Shalneva, speaking from Germany, said the closures would not affect business in Saudi Arabia as Western Union already has two major agents, Al-Bilad Bank and Samba — operating in more than 130 locations. These strategic relationships, she said, provide other services besides money transfer.

Shalneva played down the closures, claiming it was “part of the normal course of business.

“The closure of a handful of locations that were opened by the third agent will not affect our business,” she added. She stressed that regulatory authorities in the Kingdom had no influence on Western Union’s decision to close the agents down.

Meanwhile, Shalneva confirmed Western Union was all set to announce new products and services for the Gulf region including Saudi Arabia.

Kuwait-based mobile network operator Zain has confirmed it has teamed up with the company to deliver joint mobile money transfer services in MENA countries through its Zap platform, according to a report seen by Arab News on Wednesday.

The Zap service already gives Zain customers access to a full range of transactional services from their mobile phones. Customers can manage bank accounts, top-up or transfer airtime, and move money to businesses, friends and family.

Western Union currently serves millions of people in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South Asia with more than 278,000 agent locations in about 160 countries.

More than 270 banks and postal institutions across the world are Western Union agents.

The Kingdom is home to about nine million foreign workers, many of them using Western Union to send money back home.

Metropolitan’s Cover2go Further Innovates; Deploys USSD Using Clickatell’s Proven Platform to Streamline Mobile Insurance Sales and Business Process

Cover2go Offers Mobile Insurance to Lower Insurance Cost, Eliminate Paperwork, and Reduce Trips to Retail Outlet

ITWeb Mobile Payments, Johannesburg, South Africa, November 3, 2009 — Plunging headfirst into mobile, Cover2go, created by Metropolitan, is employing mobile technology innovations to distribute insurance to millions of un- and under-insured people. Announced today, Cover2go implemented Clickatell’s Enterprise USSD solution to improve insurance access, advance sales efficiencies, and streamline business processes – by leveraging the mobile phone. As a result, Cover2go has greatly reduced the cost of insurance and improved insurance accessibility in remote areas.

“Given South Africa’s large cell phone penetration, it was imperative to develop a well thought out mobile distribution strategy because Cover2go is designed to reach people who fall outside of the gambit of traditional insurance models,” said Cover2go’s Raymond Africa, head of IT Infrastructure and Process. “We chose Clickatell because they have seen what works and what doesn’t when deploying mobility strategies in our part of the world.”

Now, using the Clickatell-powered USSD solution, customers can activate insurance vouchers via mobile by texting Cover2go’s unique short-code, 120*C2GO# (120*2246#), therefore eliminating the need for a sales representative. Cover2go’s ‘direct activation’ allow consumers to simply enter the “voucher activation number,” along with the necessary personal information, all from their mobile phone in a secure USSD session. Metropolitan Cover2go has also found tremendous benefits in leveraging mobile enrollment as a way of streamlining internal processes for accurate verification as well as automated data confirmation.

“Financial institutions, large and small, continue to be leading adopters of mobile and are successfully capturing new customers, satisfying existing ones, and fast creating new revenue streams as they move beyond the traditional means of commerce and communication. Companies–local and abroad–can learn a great deal from the deployment by Cover2go – a global leader in bringing the next wave of financial services to a largely underserved market,” said Pieter de Villiers, CEO of Clickatell. “We’re excited about the market growth ahead and our role in enabling financial services providers to remain relevant with their ever-increasing mobile customers as they introduce successful mobile banking and insurance products in developed and developing markets.”

Four billion of the world’s 6 billion people use a mobile phone today, and in developing markets, mobile is often the only technology available. It has been predicted that the mobile phone will change communities and their economic outlook, especially in developing parts of the world. Mobile phone penetration and use continues to skyrocket each year, growing even faster in Africa than many other places throughout the world.

“Such ubiquity and simplicity created an opportunity for Cover2go to address the need for insurance, despite the traditional need to visit a physical office – often a geographic barrier to access in itself,” says Africa. “No need to make time-consuming and often frustrating phone calls and no requirement for incomprehensible paperwork. The message to the customer: just click and transact.”

99% of all GSM phones come equipped with USSD, which runs over the same channel as SMS. Generally associated with real-time or instant messaging phone services, USSD provides a “session-based” transactional mobile service. Likened to a secure internet session via an “SMS-like” interface, once the USSD-session is established, it remains active until the transaction is complete or the session times out. USSD, widely used by mobile operators for airtime top-ups, is being made more available to enterprises looking to launch compelling services. Typical of other short-message protocols, response times for interactive USSD-based services are almost immediate.

Clickatell USSD solutions enable transactional data to be transferred real time across the mobile channel with enhanced security and reliability. The benefits to Metropolitan and their customers are tremendous:

• Security: USSD allows session-based communication between the server and the mobile device with no information left on the device
• Real-time Connections: very low latency due to the nature of the wireless networks and session-based communications; communications initiated by simply entering service codes; no need to install, open, or learn a new application

• More Insurance Options: access to new customer segments; more returning customers; more insurance options for those who need it, when they need it
• Improved Convenience: quick and easy activation capabilities on the spot with mobile access to services

About Cover2go
Metropolitan Cover2go offers innovative, affordable, no-fuss insurance cover to people from all walks of life. Offering insurance cover in a way that’s convenient and hassle-free, Metropolitan is one of the most trusted life and funeral insurers in Africa. Metropolitan currently insures more than 10 million lives.

About Clickatell
Clickatell enables businesses, governments and communities to leverage the ubiquity of mobile messaging to inform, alert, notify, transact, interact and share information. Delivering mobile messaging solutions since 2000, Clickatell is a global leader in mobile communications specializing in SMS messaging as a service across 815+ mobile networks in 220+ countries, Clickatell serves 10,000+ customers including several of the Fortune 500, leading governments and communities globally. Clickatell has also formed strategic partnerships with a number of industry leaders including RSA Data Security, Entrust, S1, mFoundry, Fundamo, IBM, and others. Clickatell products and services increase customer acquisition, improve loyalty and build trusted brands through direct, personal, easy, and immediate communications. Backed by Sequoia and Ethos, Clickatell is headquartered in Redwood City, CA, and has offices in South Africa.

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Media Contacts:

Clickatell, US
Kelly Brieger
650-704-1748
kelly@kbpr.net

Clickatell, MEA
Kerryn-Leigh Anderson, Zenkai Communications
+27-82-457-7236
kerryn@zenkai-comms.co.za

Metropolitan Cover2go
Sarah Rice, Sentient Communications
+27-21-422-4275
sarah@sentientcommunications.co.za

Obopay, a mobile payment company funded by Nokia, is announcing today that it is moving into online games so that you can buy items in social network games using your mobile phone.

Obopay is one of a number of startups that make it easy to pay for services with a mobile phone. Users can mobilize their credit or debit cards by linking them to a mobile phone number. They can then pay for services by giving their phone number and typing in a PIN code for security. Online merchants like it because it eliminates friction in payments.

So far, Obopay has focused on payments between people who have cell phones. It is also powering the new Nokia Money service which you can use to buy cell phone minutes, pay bills, or buy goods and services. Now, with today’s announcement, the company is adding payment for games on social networks such as Facebook. Obopay says there are lots of synergies between powering Nokia Money and handling mobile payments for games.

Although it is late to the games market, Obopay has a lot going for it. The company was founded in 2005. Its partners include Nokia, AT&T, Verizon Wireless and MasterCard. Today’s announcement extends Obopay payment system to let people use their phone numbers to make purchases inside games using a credit or debit card attached to the mobile number. The user enters the mobile phone number and their PIN number, without having to leave the game itself. On Facebook, for instance, the user doesn’t have to be redirected to another web site to make the payment. Normally, lots of transactions are abandoned if a user has to leave a web site.

With easier ways to pay, users will stay inside games longer, and that means better monetization for merchants. Obopay says that it has an advantage over rivals because the merchants also don’t have to give up a large percentage of their revenue to carriers who fulfill mobile payments via cell phone bills. The new Obopay system is already in use at game companies, which are yet to be announced.

Obopay has about 200 employees. Rivals include PayPal Mobile, Zong, Boku, MPesa, and others. Besides Nokia, investors include AllianceBernstein, Essar Telecom USA Limited, ONSET Ventures, Qualcomm, Redpoint Ventures, Richmond Management, and Wolfensohn & Co. In March, Nokia said it put $70 million into Obopay.

Roamware Inc that provides mobile roaming solutions has said it is planning to launch a micro-finance application to enable mobile phone users, especially those who do not have access to banks, to carry out financial transactions.

The company has started a pilot project on micro-finance in partnership with Grameen Bank of Bangladesh.

“We are already conducting pilots on the micro-finance application. Our development team is working very closely with Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank. We hope to introduce this application in India soon,” Roamware CEO Bobby Srinivasan said.

The application would be aimed at rural population across the globe that seldom has access to banks.

“The move into mobile banking and micro-financing is a natural extension for us as it leverages our customer relationships, business partnerships and technology innovation. It is a massive market opportunity for Roamware,” he added.