Mobile Money Africa

Creova announces Mdinar© the first Mobile Payment Service in North Africa

Posted by Emmanuel Okoegwale On February - 23 - 2010 ADD COMMENTS

New mobile payment service powered by Creova to be offered by BIAT bank and Tunisiana

Creova, a leader in developing mobile payment software solutions, has announced the launch of the first Mobile Payment service in North Africa. Called Mdinar©, the new service is an m-wallet solution powered by Creova’s mobile payment technology that is being launched in Tunisia by Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie (BIAT) in partnership with Tunisiana, Tunisia’s leading mobile phone operator, ENDA (a leading microfinance institution in Tunisia) and Viamobile (a service provider).

Creova was chosen as the mobile payments platform to support Mdinar© because its solutions add value to both the service provider and the customer. “Our payments solution system does not simply interface to a loan management system by just providing a standard interface,” said Ramzi El-Fekih, CEO of Creova. “A typical user wants to see all loan information (amounts, dates, history, etc.), and the loan provider wants the processing to be handled in real-time and automatically (no paperwork, no reconciliation time, etc.). Our technology meets these requirements and is scalable, interoperable with financial and commerce systems, and adaptable to different segments and applications.”
The Mdinar© service offers P2P, top-up, and loan payment services from a user’s mobile phone. It also offers multiple features, including the ability to view account balances, history of transactions, and the possibility to save and use the list of people frequently receiving payments from the user. Even smarter, it allows the user to send a request for money to another person.

With a few clicks on their mobile phone, users of Mdinar© can make universal payments with total security and reliability. The underlying technology developed by Creova has been carefully designed to be highly reliable and scalable to millions of users.

“Our solutions are at the forefront of the mobile payments industry,” continued El-Fekih. “The Mdinar© payments solution gives control, flexibility and the capacity our customers need to reach their development goals. Our rich and completely modular platform design has been developed with the goal of providing a fast deployment for our service provider customers, enabling them to get a preferred position among early adopters in mobile payments and then integrate additional applications according to the needs of their customers as they move forward.”

“Simple, innovative and accessible, Mdinar© can be easily integrated into all mobile phones. Mdinar© is a new technology that will improve the quality of the banking services offered to the customers,” said Slaheddine Lâajimi, CEO of BIAT.
Yves Gauthier, the head of Tunisiana, commenting on the impact that this will have in market, said;”Mdinar© is an innovation that will revolutionize the world of mobile telephony. It will also optimize the choices and the freedom of our customers.”

About Creova

Founded in 2008, Creova is a provider of mobile payment systems; these can be used by financial institutions, mobile operators, e-commerce providers and merchants for use by their customers. These innovative, secure, high performance and easy to use solutions allow Creova’s customers to provide mobile payment services that support features such as person-to-person transfer, bank account transfer, loan reimbursement, bill payment and mobile top-up, helping companies increase customer reach by providing access for all mobile phone users. Creova is based in Paris with offices in Munich (Germany), Boston (USA), and Tunis (Tunisia).

News North Africa

Maroc Telecom launches first money transfer service

Posted by Emmanuel Okoegwale On January - 13 - 2010 ADD COMMENTS

Maroc telecom has launched Mobicash, Morocco’s first trials of mobile debit payment service.

This first service of money transfer and payment by cell phone has been the object of an agreement signed between Morocco Telecom operators and Attijariwafa bank and the Central “Banque Populaire”.

MobiCash is a complete mobile payment platform that works immediately on every existing cell phone. Transactions are securely signed with NSDT (Near Sound Data Transfer), a technology that sends “cryptosounds” through the phone’s audio channel to enable contact-less mobile payment.

This new service allows operators to provide their subscribers with variety of services and conduct, secure transactions such as deposit and withdrawal of money from Mobicash accounts in all Telecom agencies. It also provides bill payments, money transfers across Morocco as well as mobile banking and international remittances services.

This could be an excellent option for companies that offer mass-market mobile applications and are looking for ways to easily accept payments.

This service is open to customers of Maroc Telecom without having to hold a bank account and its activation takes place in Maroc Telecom agencies upon presentation of the national identity card.

Through its innovative platform, people can now leave their cash behind and safely. However the question how subscribers can be assured that their money will not be siphoned from their accounts has however, not been fully addressed and many people are still skeptical about the security of mobile commerce.

Maroc-Telecom, of which the French group Vivendi holds 51% shares, employs more than 11,000 people.

Maroc-Telecom, Meditel and Maroc Connect are the three telephone companies currently operating in Morocco.

News North Africa

Valimo to provide Mobile ID services for Vodafone Egypt customers

Posted by Emmanuel Okoegwale On December - 13 - 2009 4 COMMENTS

valimo

Valimo provides multipurpose Mobile ID technology to kick off first pilot implementations in Middle East and Africa

Egypt Trust, a Digital Signature and Information provider, and Valimo, the global market leader in Mobile ID solutions, today announced an agreement to launch Mobile ID service pilots in Egypt. Vodafone Egypt, the Egyptian subsidiary of the world’s leading international mobile communications group, provides the SIM cards, connectivity and secure messaging for the pilot. The Mobile ID service is delivered in co-operation with Professional Services & Integrated Solutions “ProSIS”, a leading IT security consultant and Valimo’s Business Partner.

At the first stage of the launch, the Mobile ID service platform is offered to selected Egyptian service providers. The providers were chosen by analysing customers’ interests and prioritising banking, governmental and brokering segments. Kicking off in early 2010, the first service pilots run for three months. The installation of Mobile ID platform began in November.

“Complete security and ease-of-use are challenging to combine and ideally Mobile ID should be usable anywhere, anytime. Safe use requires secure authentication,” explained Yahia Al-Atfy, Chairman, Egypt Trust. “Mobile ID is a simple, easy to use solution for proving your identity and obtaining easy access to your accounts. The user doesn´t have to remember separate passwords, just one PIN code is enough.”

“The Mobile ID pilot will be launched in Egypt with a number of service providers,” explained Mahmoud Swedan, CEO, ProSIS. “Initially, Mobile ID can be used to access and confirm transactions in cardless ATM’s and online stock trading services.”

Mobile ID users are able to securely log in to online services, sign documents and confirm transactions by using their mobile phones. As people typically have their mobile phones with them at all times, a legally binding digital signature is easily done regardless of time or place.

“The Egyptian authentication market is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. The government aims to develop governmental services with e-Services in order to increase Egypt’s competitiveness,” said Juha Murtopuro, CEO, Valimo. “Currently, Valimo Mobile ID is used in a variety of services throughout the world, including mobile banking and payments, governmental services, e-commerce and m-commerce applications, along with enterprise access management. Mobile ID enables various digital self-services such as mobile payments, banking and money transfer, which is very convenient especially for people living in scattered settlement areas.”

“More and more customers in the Middle East and Africa browse the internet with their mobile phones. As mobile authentication is secure, legally binding and easy to use, we expect to see rapid growth in mobile signing,” said Mohamed Wahba, Payment Platforms Marketing Senior Manager of Vodafone, “Mobile ID is easier than sending an SMS, and it enables multiple users, profiles or roles in one device. The latter is important when considering eg. communities which share one mobile device.”

Valimo Mobile ID can be used for all services that require personal authentication, identification or a legally binding signature. It is based on Wireless Public Key Infrastructure (WPKI). Valimo is the global market leader in Mobile ID solutions in terms of both installation base and number of active users. Valimo solutions are used by operators, banks, enterprises, public sector, e-commerce and other service providers throughout the world.

Valimo mobile signature can be used with all mobile phones and devices with a SIM card or other secure storage inside. The resulting safe and reliable digital authentication replaces various tokens, password and code lists. When using an online service requiring authentication or digital signing, the request is sent to the user’s mobile phone using secured SMS technology. The message pops up on the phone screen, asking the user to confirm his or her identity or approval by entering his or her personal PIN code. If the device is lost or stolen, the services cannot be accessed without re-entering the PIN.

News North Africa

Tunis forum makes recommendations on protecting African remittances

Posted by Editor On October - 29 - 2009 1 COMMENT

An international forum on remittances to Africa has endorsed a series of recommendations to reduce transfer costs and exploit the potential of remittances as a development tool in the continent.

The Global Forum on Remittances, co-hosted by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), which ended recently in Tunis, brought together more than 200 participants involved in the sending home of money by workers living abroad.

Financial institutions, development agencies, private banks, money transfer companies, telecoms operators, migrant diaspora groups and NGOs gathered in Tunis on 22-23 October.

At the closing session, the Forum participants called for, amongst others, the increased competition in a market dominated by two major money transfer groups, the empowerment of market actors, effective and efficient regulation, the adoption of new technologies and the expansion of access to financial services, especially in rural areas.

The forum also urged that more market actors, especially microfinance institutions, post offices and credit unions, be enabled to act as pay-out locations. This, according to the participants, would not only increase outreach to rural areas where people travel long distances to cash their money but would also make it possible to cross-sell other services and provide financial education.

At the G8 summit in L’Aquila in July, world leaders recognised the importance of remittances for development and pledged to reduce the cost of remittance by 50 percent in the next five years, by promoting a competitive environment and removing barriers. The G8 Working Group on Remittances is meeting in Rome next month.

Some 30 million Africans live abroad and remittance flows to and within the continent approached $40 billion, according to an IFAD report – Sending Money Home to Africa – which was presented at the event.

The report found that in four out of five African countries, governments restrict the type of financial institutions able to offer remittance services.

The number of payout locations across the entire African continent is the same as Mexico, which has only a tenth of Africa’s population, the report found.

The forum also urged that exclusivity agreements that hamper competition be discontinued, that standards and interoperability be encouraged, that remittances should not be subject to taxation and that ways be found to link rural areas in Africa with mobile phone and other non-cash technologies.

News North Africa

Djezzy mulls mobile banking services

Posted by Editor On October - 28 - 2009 ADD COMMENTS

Shereen El Gazzar

Orascom’s Algerian unit is in talks with Algerian Central Bank.

Orascom Telecom Algeria, or Djezzy, a mobile operation owned by Orascom Telecom said that it is negotiating with the Algerian Central Bank to introduce mobile banking services, Egyptian daily Al Mal reports Wednesday, quoting Tamer Al Mahdi, Chief Executive Officer of Djezzy.

Al Mahdi also said that Orascom Telecom is considering an initial public offering, or IPO, for Djezzy in the Algerian Stock Exchange, the paper reports.

He also told the paper that Djezzy is considering applying for a voice over internet protocol, or VoIP, license in Algeria, since there is a possibility that the Algerian government will offer these licenses in the near future.

News North Africa

Masabi And Mi-Pay Introduce M-Payment Service For Africa

Posted by Editor On August - 1 - 2009 ADD COMMENTS

Mi-Pay

An SMS-based mobile payments system designed to work in remote regions of Africa with limited communications infrastructure has been launched by Masabi and Mi-Pay.

The vendors say their Street Vendor application allows mobile operators, banks and other providers to offer their services in remote regions without additional investment in infrastructure or hardware, using the existing mobile phone base.

The technology works in any part of the world that has SMS reception, which means that unlike mobile operator-led payment services, it does not require new SIM cards to be issued or integration with local network infrastructure.

In addition, the application is compatible with many standard handsets, up to seven years old, and doesn’t rely on smartphones or 3G and GPRS connectivity which are not always available in rural areas.

The application enables handsets to act as an electronic point of sale terminal, enabling street vendors to use their phones to offer people services such as international remittances, micro-loans and insurance.

According to Ben Whitaker, COO, Masabi, the system will allow mobile operators and retail providers to create new sales channels for services in areas with limited communications infrastructure and accessibility.

“A ‘Street Vendor’ with even old handsets can now offer international transaction and retail services to local consumers, without the need for vast technological infrastructure,” says Whitaker.

For transactions, the handset communicates with a central server for authentication and approval over encrypted SMS in areas where other data connections are unavailable. The system complies with all international anti-fraud and money laundering guidelines, says Masabi.

Norman Frankel, CEO, Mi-Pay, adds: “In developing countries, such as those in Africa, where there is insufficient payments revenue to justify the capital expense of rolling bank branches out across large geographical areas, mobile initiated domestic financial services have the potential to transform the retail sector and, therefore, the economy as a whole.”

Street Vendor is already live in Sudan with other roll-outs planned across the Middle East and North Africa.

Rapid adoption in the developing world will fuel a boom in mobile payments over the next three years, with global transaction volumes reaching $250 billion in 2012, according to a recent report from Arthur D Little.

In February the GSMA, which represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a programme that aims to expand the availability of financial services to millions of people in the developing world through mobile phones.

News North Africa