Giesecke+Devrient partners Instacash to bring CBDC payments to Eswatini feature phone users

The Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) has taken a groundbreaking step by opening its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) platform, which is powered by Giesecke+Devrient’s (G+D) Filia solution, to financial technology (fintech) companies.

The initiative enables fintechs to test existing or new services on the CBDC platform, encouraging collaboration between the Central Bank, as the state issuer of the digital currency, and private sector providers.

Notably, Instacash, a service provider for mobile electronic money transfer services, used this opportunity to carry out payment transactions with the digital Lilangeni via a feature phone for the first time.

The African continent is considered a pioneer in the development and practical testing of Central Bank Digital Currencies. This includes countries such as Ghana and the Kingdom of Eswatini. Visitors to the Eswatini International Trade Fair, for example, were able to test payments with the digital Lilangeni, before the project was rolled-out to a larger part of the population as part of a pilot. During the pilot, the Central Bank of Eswatini invited fintechs to evaluate new digital payment services and gave them access to G+D’s Filia ecosystem.

On its own initiative, the local financial services provider Instacash used the opportunity to develop a proof-of-concept (PoC) for an application enabling integration of the digital Lilangeni into existing Instacash services. The standard tools and documentation of the Filia ecosystem were used – no special developments or additional support from G+D were required. 

This underlines the role of Filia as a comprehensive, open innovation platform for the development of future-oriented CBDC solutions. With the Instacash application, for example, it is now possible to use the digital Lilangeni to open a wallet, check the balance, access financial services or make transfers. 

The transaction requires neither an expensive smartphone nor an online connection. Instead, access is possible via the familiar mobile phone codes (GSM or USSD codes), which are simply entered using a keypad. This cost-effective technology, which has been established for decades, is very popular in Africa, as around half of the population does not have a smartphone. The solution developed as part of the PoC is therefore also considered an important contribution to greater financial inclusion for the population. 

“Instacash’s initiative underlines the enormous potential that the introduction of Central Bank Digital Currencies opens up for payment players,” says  Raoul Herborg, managing director of the CBDC unit at G+D.

 “It is an excellent example of a customer-centric collaboration between Central Banks and private digital currency providers that also strengthens financial inclusion by integrating CBDCs into existing financial services,” Herborg added.

AGENCIES