NIGERIA:Remita Mobile vs QuickTeller Mobile

Quick Teller is one of Nigeria’s oldest mobile apps. It was launched in 2013 by Interswitch and ever since has been the subject of several updates – from a 2.5 version to a 3.6.7 today. It has also been downloaded over a hundred thousand times on Google Play Store.

Hence, you will understand the hesitation we had at first in pitting Quick Teller against the latest financial mobile app in Nigeria, Remita Mobile. The full version of Remita Mobile was launched in July, 2017. It has so far received an impressive ten thousand downloads on the Play Store.

Nonetheless, the applications maybe at their most defining moments; a new version of Quick Teller was released 3.6.7 in May, barely a month after Remita launched.

Both are very ambitious in their latest offerings and are backed by companies with seemingly endless purse strings. Interswitch, the owners of Quick Teller, is one of the magnet of major fintech investment in the country. In March 2017 the company sold a minority stake to Boston-based TA Associates.

SystemSpecs which is behind Remita has been repeatedly mentioned in the news certainly for its position as Nigeria’s Treasury Single Account epayment platform. The company recently said that it processes over N1 trillion in transactions in a month.

FEATURES

In terms of features, there are obvious similarities like bills payment including airtime recharge, DSTV subscription, Swift 4G, PHCN etc. There is also the provision for transfers and receiving money. Both can be downloaded from Android and iOS platforms. The two have gone to lengths to ensure adequate online security hence each gets +5.

However QuickTeller gets extra +3 for making its app available to users on the less popular Blackberry platform.

When it comes to money transfer and receiving, Remita Mobile wins with +5 in view of its ‘offerings’. Users of the app have the opportunity and convenience to operate multiple bank accounts from their devices in real time. You can see the activities on your bank accounts and be able to take action immediately.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

In terms of convenience Quick Teller mobile app may seem like opening an account in an old bank. You have to fill a two-page form (-1). The app even has space for users to fill in a referral’s contact – but it’s optional. When you plough through that you have to go back to your bank to activate your online ATM account otherwise you are not using the app (-1).

After getting the account activated, your MasterCard is disenfranchised as QuickTeller prefers Verve and Visa (+2). But once you are logged in, you do not need to do so again every time you close your phone unless you sign out.

Remita account creation process is faster and doesn’t have a referral option (5+). The app also offers card services which require users activating online ATM accounts with their banks. But they haven’t been activated as at the time of writing this article (-1).

A fundamental flaw is the non-availability of most of the services on the app (-5). In fact efforts by this writer to upload information on a Diamond (one of the banks said to have been brought within the app) account failed severally. Some users have also pointed out that they are unable to access banks like GTBank, Ecobank and Fidelity from the app.

SOURCE: BUSINESSDAY / FRANK ELEANYA