MOBILE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS N E W S L E T T E R
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2020
Highlights
From Srini’s Desk C O N T E N T S Rise of Digital Banking and Payments in the Middle East 01 Highlights The story of digital banking and payments in the Middle East is a rather interesting one. Although From Srini’s Desk digital banking and payments in this region had started a little later than most other places, the In the Media financial services landscape is rapidly changing. The recent years have seen an unprecedented Analyst Mentions increase in the number of digital banking and payments initiatives. A high literacy rate coupled Did You Know? with wide access to smartphones and customers wanting to avoid the hassles of conventional 02 Airtel Money banking has accelerated their growth. Service – Financial Numbers 2019 In GCC countries, UAE has taken lead in digital financial services space with many banks investing in multiple digital initiatives. These range from the launch of digital-only banking platforms to the 03 MFS Role Models strengthening of the existing net-banking services. CBD Now, an initiative by the Commercial Parul Vashisht Bank of Dubai, is UAE’s first digital bank. This was followed by the launch of Liv. Liv. is a mobile app Tejeshvi Roy that is the ultimate millennials digital proposition. Targeting the same customer segment, we have Mashreq Neo, the full-service digital bank of Mashreq Bank. The collaboration of the Abu Product and Market News Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) with the Fidor Bank has paved the way for Middle East’s first 04 community-based digital bank. Awards Key Events Xpence, is another neo bank, that is offering regions first digital only business account for News from our deployments freelancers, solo entrepreneurs and startups. New deals However, the story of the growth of digital banking and payments in the Middle East does not Product update revolve around the UAE alone. The entire region is abuzz with initiatives on digital banking and News Digest payments. Take Oman for example. Bank Muscat, Oman’s largest bank has launched country’s 05 first mobile wallet bmWallet in August 2017. The bmWallet app has more than 10,000 downloads in short time. Bank Meethaq, the Islamic banking arm of Bank Muscat has also launched its own wallet - Meethaq Wallet. Sohar International and telecom operator Omantel have launched eFloos. These services allow customers to load money into mobile wallet using debit card, mobile banking, internet banking or ATM. With their mobile wallet loaded, customers can send money, request money and pay merchants instantly just using recipient’s mobile number. Not just banks, the Central Bank of Oman is also putting its best foot forward to provide an enabling digital payments environment with introduction of mobile payment clearing system MpClear, a first in the GCC region. The MpClear system provides interoperability and unified switching and clearing services between various mobile wallet and banking services operated by different banks in the Sultanate, making transactions across different wallets simpler and convenient for consumers. Bahrain is also making great strides in the field of digital banking and payments. National Bank of Bahrain and Almoayyed International Group has launched Meem, first Sharia-compliant digital bank in the world. This digital initiative is targeted at the corporate population of Bahrain. In terms of popularity, bWallet, provided by financial company AFS and telecom operator Batelco, has emerged as one of the most liked mobile wallets in the kingdom with more than 50,000 installs. Customers can self-register for the bwallet app without having to visit the nearest bank and load it through a debit card, makes the experience truly digital. bwallet supports both domestic and international money transfers. But the most popular use case is merchant payments. bwallet users can use their mobile phone to pay to more than 1200 domestic and global brands by just typing merchant’s mobile number or scanning the QR code generated by merchants on their mobile phone (Dynamic QR Code). The numerous discounts and cash-back that come with bwallet has played an instrumental role in encouraging the service. In Kuwait, the country’s leading bank is focusing on contactless payments. The bank is using host card emulation (HCE) technology and Tokenisation to deliver swift, seamless, secure and convenient contactless mobile payments to it card users. Customers can create a virtual version of the physical card on their mobile phone and can make payments at merchants by just tapping the phone at an NFC POS. Tokenisation converts customers’ card information into a device-specific digital token. Hence, while executing a transaction, a digital token is shared and the customer’s actual card information is masked, thus securing the transaction. This is similar to the digital payment services as seen in the western world. Not just mobile phones, the bank has also launched a service that facilitates contactless payments at merchants using Fitbit devices. Beyond GCC, in Middle Eastern countries where banking penetration is low, mobile money services like AsiaHawala in Iraq and Orange Money in Egypt are bringing a revolution in digital payments. These are comprehensive services serving financial needs of diverse consumer segments. On one hand, mobile money services provides instant anytime anywhere payments for online shopping, eVoucher purchase, transport, airtime and data recharge to millennial and Gen-Z consumers enabling digital revolution. On other hand, they facilitates remittances for unbanked, donations for orphans and financial-aid to the refugees helping them to sustain. For example, In Iraq, over 15 humanitarian organisations like UNHCR, WFP and ICRC have leveraged AsiaHawala mobile money service to provide financial aid digitally to over 200,000 households. Digitizing financial aid disbursement has removed middlemen making these payments timely, secure and corruption free. Countries are developing digital financial infrastructure to accelerate the growth of digital financial services. In Egypt, the Central Bank of Egypt has enabled interoperability between digital financial services in the country widening their reach. The banks and fintechs embracing digital banking and payments are growing continuously leading Middle East towards a cashless society and truly digital economy.
IN THE MEDIA
Mobile Money: Creating a Cash-Light With government support, banking Africa to Solve the Financial in India jumps from 35 to 80% Inclusion Problem in six years Srini’s and Mohit’s article in The PayTECH Book Kamaljeet’s article in Cantarino Brasileiro
ANALYST M E N T I O N S
Markets and Markets Orbis Reports Mobile Money Market by Transaction Global Mobile Money Market 2019 | mode (Point of Sale, Mobile Apps, QR codes, Industry Size, Growth Opportunities, Internet Payments, SMS, STK/USSD Payments, Competitive Analysis and Forecast to 2024 Direct Carrier Billing, Mobile Banking), Nature of Payment, Application, Type of Payments, Region - Global Forecast to 2024
DID YOU KNOW? AIRTEL MONEY SERVICE – FINANCIAL NUMBERS 2019 In 2019, Airtel Money Africa earned US$ 295 million in revenues and US$ 138 million in EBIT
E B I T D A US$ 143 million
R E V E N U E E B I T US$ 295 million US$ 138 million
C A P E X US$ 16 million A C T I V E C U S T O M E R S ( 30 DAYS) 16.6 million
T R A N S A C T I O N V A L U E US$ 30,236 million
MFS ROLE MODELS
PARUL VASHISHT
“Take ownership, take chances and pay no mind to the fear of failure”, Parul has demonstrated this since the time he has been involved in mobiquity® 5.0 for Orange. Multiple roles, multiple responsibilities and challenges, the journey goes on. He has been the key player in defining the backlog along with the Product Owner and Orange functional architects. In absence of BA, he took up the BA responsibility in addition to the lead role and executed both smoothly. Backlog, Migration, SES, Releases, Testing, Bug fixes, Closures and discussions with Orange in multiple forums, deployments at Orange setup and full support to make things work – He owns it all end to end in PE team. Ownership, Hard Work and Technical Excellence – These are his key strength leading to great results. Parking work items due to dependencies is an easier thing to do but working in mode of “Why not solve it?” is the difficult and challenging thing to do. We could not have delivered Target-1 and Target-2 Step-1 releases to Orange without him. Kudos to the great work done and looking forward to the long way ahead to make G5 Go Live in Orange.
TEJESHVI ROY Tejeshvi is an excellent bridge between the functional and technical teams. He always believes in walking the extra mile to complete the task with quality, and this has resulted in a smooth day to day operations and quality outcome of the PreTUPS™ roadmap releases. The way he is leading the PreTUPS™ VMS Revamp project is commendable, and within a short time, he has guided the team on technical as well as functional aspects. His dedication towards roadmap releases always resulted in timely deliveries, and he is always available to help his team beyond his scope of work. In a brief period, he has gained enough understand and knowledge about technical as well as functional aspects of the product, and now he has become a centre point of contact for any technical and functional guidance.
Product and Market News Awards
Comviva received the ‘Digital Transformation Vendor of the Year’ award at the New Age Banking Awards 2020 in Doha, Qatar
Key Events
Comviva participated in Comviva was the networking partner at the New Age Banking Summit in Doha, Digital Bank and Insurance Qatar. Abhinav Pragya participated in Fire Side chat and spoke on the topic 2020 in Guayaquil, Ecuador “embracing omni-channel digital banking platforms to accelerate digital along with a local partner. transformation strategy”.
Comviva participated in The PayTECH Book Launch Event and PayTECH Innovation Conference in London. Comviva’s article has been featured in The PayTECH Book, the first crowd-sourced book on the global payment sector.
News from our deployments Airtel Money Tanzania launches Mastercard QR payments
Airtel Money Tanzania in partnership with Mastercard and Selcom has launched scan and pay service. Airtel Money customers with ‘My Airtel Africa App’ can now scan Mastercard QR Code at merchants to make payments.
Free money Senegal successfully migrates to mobiquity® Money Comviva has successfully replaced Ericsson’s mobile money platform with mobiquity® Money in Free Money Senegal. Free Money was formerly known as Tigo Money. Free Money has 1.3 million customers and offers multiple digital financial services including money transfer, mobile top-up, bill payment and merchant payment.
Airtel Money Zambia launches School fee Payment service Parents and guardians in Zambia can now make school fees payment with Airtel Money from convenience of their home and save time and money. To pay school fees, customers have to dial *778#, select option 4 “make payment” and then select option 6 “school fees".
EcoCash users now able to reverse transactions via USSD
EcoCash has introduced a new option for people who have mistakenly sent money to the wrong individuals. By dialling *150# and selecting option 3 (Self Help/ Reversal) EcoCash subscribers can either submit a reversal or approve the reversal of a transaction. To prevent any fraud, the transaction reversal process requires both parties to approve. The service expedites the reversal process where the recipient is willing to cooperate. The reversal existed on the EcoCash self-service portal but now it is also available on the USSD making it widely accessible.
Orange Money Liberia partners with United Bank for Africa Orange Money and United Bank for Africa (UBA) in Liberia have partnered to launch the mobile money push and pull service for customers of both entities. The service, also known as bank to wallet will provide an alternative channel to deposit or withdraw money from a UBA customer’s account to their Orange Money wallet and vice versa. The service will also allow customers to do bank account balance inquiry and check their last five bank transactions.
Airtel Money Zambia partners Natsave Bank
Airtel Money Zambia has partnered with Natsave Bank to enable customers of both institutions to transfer money between their Airtel Money wallet and Natsave Bank account. The service will further increase the banking services offered on the Airtel Money.
BPM’s mobile banking service Bankily goes commercially live Banque Populaire de Mauritanie (BPM), one of the leading banks in Mauritania, has commercially launched mobile banking service ‘Bankily’ on 8th January 2020. The service is powered by Comviva’s mobiquity® Banking suite. Bankily allows consumers to open and manage bank account through mobile phone using Bankily app or USSD menu. With Bankily, users can send money, request money, pay bills, recharge airtime, pay merchants, raise funds, check balance, order a cheque book or bank card, view bank statement and do more anytime anywhere using the mobile phone. Money transfer can be done using mobile number, Facebook account or through QR Codes.
Orange Money DRC partners with Flash International to expand the service reach
Orange Money in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has signed a partnership contract with Flash International to expand its last-mile agent network. Flash is largest digital distribution network in DRC. The Orange Money service has been integrated into Flash App and is now available at more than 4,000 Flash agents across the DRC.
Inwi Money makes an impressive start
Inwi Money, the digital financial service launched in Morocco in September 2019, is getting good response from consumers. In just four months the service has garnered 140,000 customers from 503 localities in Morocco. Transactions valuing MAD 7 million have been performed by customers during this period.
Orange Romania expands Orange Money app with currency exchange services
Orange Romania bolstered Orange Money service by enabling overseas currency transfers with no commission charges. The move enables Orange Money customers in the country to send transfer funds to 18 non-domestic currencies, including the Euro, Dollar, Pounds Sterling, and Swiss Franc. The customers would be offered competitive exchange rates, with transactions secured using biometrics including fingerprint or facial recognition, along with a PIN.
Airtel Africa partners Western Union
Airtel Africa and Western Union have partnered to launch new payment services that will allow customers in Africa to receive money in real time. The partnership will also allow Airtel Money mobile wallet users across 14 African countries - Uganda, Gabon, Tanzania, Zambia, DRC, Malawi, Madagascar, Kenya, Congo, Niger, Tchad, Rwanda, Nigeria and Seychelles - to route any money transfer received directly to their mobile wallet.
Airtel Tanzania successfully upgrades to PreTUPS™ 7.5
Comviva has successfully upgraded PreTUPS™ platform in Airtel Tanzania from V5.5 to V7.5. PreTUPS™ V7.5 uses POSTGRES DB. After Kenya, Tanzania is the second country amongst the 14 Airtel operations to deploy PreTUPS™ V7.5.
Comviva and Safaricom celebrate10 years of successful association Comviva and Safaricom celebrated their 10 years of association and successful delivery of the PreTUPS™ upgrade project at the Radisson Blu in Nairobi on January 24, 2020. A networking dinner was held and attended by over 35 key team members from Safaricom.
Orange Money Burkina Faso facilitates bond purchase
Burkina Faso Public treasury has launched bonds called “TPBF 6.50% 2020-2028” with Coris Bourse. The bonds can be purchased digitally using Orange Money by dialling *144*6# between 27th February and 23rd March 2020. 8,000,000 bonds with a nominal value of 10,000 CFA Francs each valuing a total of 80 billion CFA Francs are on offer.
AsiaHawala launches new services
AsiaHawala has integrated with Al Janoob Bank and National Switch service. Integration with Al Janoob Bank has enabled customers of both the organizations to transfer money between their Al Janoob Bank account and AsiaHawala wallet instantly. Integration with national switch will facilitate interoperability with other digital financial services like Zain Cash.
New deals
Phongsavanh Bank, Laos Comviva will deploy mobiquity® Banking Suite in Phongsavanh Bank, Laos. Comviva will be providing Digital Banking (Mobile, Internet and Alexa), Digital Experience (segment based UI-UX) and Digital Transaction layer which will enable omni channel layer and APIfication. Comviva will also provide Stored Value Account (SVA) to enable bank to provide payments and transfer services to banked and unbanked population of Laos.
Product update
PreTUPS™ evolves to version 7.19
With its fortnightly release cycle, PreTUPS™ has evolved to version 7.19 in last couple of months. The following are the key new features:
N level tracking reports for vouchers: PreTUPS™ VMS allows tracking of vouchers till the last channel user (retailer) thus enabling better voucher stock management. Three new reports have been introduced to identify near-expiry voucher stock lying in the distribution chain and to identify unconsumed voucher stock and hence redistribute voucher stock and reduce the stock outage.
C2C Transfer enhancement: Channel user will now be able to select payment method while initiating the transfer/buy request for stock and voucher. Channel user will also be able to upload file as a proof of payment.
New voucher transaction reports: Two new voucher transaction reports for O2C and C2C has been introduced.
Photos from around the world
Am il Ane ja fro m the Unit ed Na Ooredoo Myanmar team in Gurugram tions visi ting C omv iva O ffice
PreTUPS upgrade celebration in Kenya Year
PreTUPS™ team celebrating Christmas and New
Comviva at the PayTECH Book Launch in London
News Digest
Zimbabwe: Cassava First Set Of Half Year Results After Demerger From Econet Are Out
Africa: Airtel Money books jump in users as network expands
Africa: Orange points to home comforts as revenue rises
Tanzania: Airtel Tanzania offers bonus credit with Luku electricity token top-ups
India: India requires banks to let cardholders opt in to contactless payments
Zimbabwe: worldremit says ‘Zimbabwe among top five remittance destinations’
India: WhatsApp payments finally cleared by India
Japan: Docomo, Mercari broaden payment alliance
India: India set to relax mobile wallet data rules
Global: Visa Logs 700M Visa Direct Transactions, Contactless Payments Surge
Global: Visa Says Tokenized Transactions Set To Hit $1T, Sets Click-to-Pay Transition
US: PayPal chief eyes Venmo expansion
Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia eyes digital boost with STC Pay tie-up
Africa: Orange and Greenlight will distribute solar kits in several countriesBM Wallet, mBanking apps upgraded with new Mobile Payments System
Europe: Worldline inks €7.8B deal to create payment giant
Ghana: MoMo Interoperability transactions hit GH¢781.6 million in 2019
Bangladesh: Mobile Wallet for Easy Money Transfer, Payment & Savings in Bangladesh
Vietnam: SBV sets cashless payments as top priority for 2020
Cameroon: MTN extends GSMA mobile money approval to Cameroon
Botswana: PosoMoney Card-to-Wallet facility for mobile money
Zimbabwe: Make mobile money services more affordable
Ghana: Offertory, tithe go digital as churches introduce e-payments
Jordan: Orange Money launches e-wallet
Tanzania: Top four purchases on Mobile Money by Tanzanian Youth
Senegal: Virtual operator Promobile officially launches activities
Uganda: Parliament summons banks over Mobile Money accounts
Malawi: Mobile money numbers dive after account cull
Ethiopia: Safaricom hunts backers for Ethiopia move
Namibia: Namibia operator tipped for mobile money move
Africa: Vodacom chief eyes sustained financial services push
Africa: Alipay ups Africa reach with Ecobank deal
South Africa: MTN launches mobile money
Mali: UBA Mali launches mobile money service Sama
Myanmar: MPT Money launches across Myanmar
Senegal: WorldRemit targets Senegal with latest mobile deal
Ghana: GCB Bank launches mobile money
Malaysia: Axiata, Razer mull Malaysia digital banking licence
India: Jio pits itself against Google, Paytm on cash transfers
Puerto Rico : T-Mobile extends money offer to Puerto Rico
Global: Software provider unveils ‘Backbase-as-a-Service’ for banks
Global: Gates Foundation mobile money projects in developing world to go live this year
Botswana: PosoMoney Card-to-Wallet facility for mobile money
Contributors – Ankit Gohil, Atul Katiyar, Chirantan Sharma, Kamaljeet Rastogi, Leydy Morales, Mohit Bhargava, Mohit Dikshit, Naina Bansal, Nusrat Jabin Khan, Prabhu Ram S, Saransh Agrawal, Sreehari J, Srinivas Nidugondi, Ved Prakash Sharma, Vinay Kumar and Yogesh R Joshi.
About Comviva
Comviva is the global leader of mobility solutions catering to The Business of Tomorrows. The company is a subsidiary of Tech Mahindra and a part of the $21 billion Mahindra Group. Its extensive portfolio of solutions spans digital financial services, customer value management, messaging and broadband solution and digital lifestyle services and managed VAS services. It enables service providers to enhance customer experience, rationalize costs and accelerate revenue growth. Comviva’s solutions are deployed by over 130 mobile service providers and financial institutions in over 95 countries and enrich the lives of over two billion people to deliver a better future. For more information, please visit www.comviva.com
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