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Tanzania's Interoperable
Mobile Money
In 2008, 1 percent of Tanzanians had access to mobile money. By December 2013, 90 percent did, with approximately 11 million active accounts and transactions worth US$1.8 billion. Mobile financial services are at the heart of Tanzania’s new National Financial Inclusion Framework. The Bank of Tanzania cooperated with the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority to allow an appropriate ecosystem for MFS to develop. This year, Tigo, Vodacom, Airtel, and Zantel (with support from the Gates Foundation and the IFC) came together with CRDB Bank, National Microfinance Bank, and Bank of Tanzania. The interoperable system they created, allowing users to send or receive money from any mobile money user regardless of provider, went live in July 2014.
MasterCard and Bank of Punjab
MasterCard and the Bank of Punjab in Pakistan launched a social security platform this year that aims to “automate and streamline government disbursement, subsidy, and assistance programs.” Among other features, recipients’ identities will be verified through biometrics. This initiative will build on learning from a similar initiative MasterCard implemented in South Africa in 2012, where 10 million active debit cards have been issued and the government has seen a 50 percent reduction in cost. The platform will support government programs in pensions, payroll, education, microlending, and healthcare.
Earlier this year the Communications Commission of Kenya issued a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) license to Equity Bank, making it one of the first financial services providers in the world to acquire an MVNO license and signaling the convergence of bank and telecoms models in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Equity announced plans to issue a “thin SIM” card to their subscribers, which overlays an existing SIM card, allowing users to apply for loans, transfer money, and pay bills, all on their mobile phone. Equity’s entrance to the market, together with challenges from the number two mobile network Airtel,
Equity Bank Becomes a Mobile Operator
Peru’s Banks Cooperate to Create Payments Platform
ASBANC, Peru’s National Bank Association, launched an interoperable electronics payments initiative, taking advantage of a 2012 law to promote electronic money. Ericsson was selected to provide the technology platform, which will begin its pilot phase in early 2015. The platform will be interoperable across all types of channels, as seen by the involvement of a range of providers. To date, private banks Banco de Credito (BCP), Interbank, BBVA and Scotiabank, as well as MNOs Telefonica, Claro and Nextel are part of the initiative. Banco de la Nacion, Peru’s largest public bank, is on board, as are the Association of Microfinance Institutions and the Federation of Savings and Credit Unions.
“Unless practitioners and regulators talk, you don’t have good policy made.”
– Alok Prasad (Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN))
prompted market leader Safaricom to slash M-PESA transaction charges by 65 percent.
Raghu Malhotra, Division President, MENA- MasterCard and Naeemuddin Khan, President and CEO, Bank of Punjab