MoneyBox Africa, an initiative of three Nigerian companies led by investment institution Integrated Capital Services, has announced a partnership with German mobile payment company Paybox in hopes of developing a pan-African mobile banking system.
The initiative will deploy its Mobiliser platform and Money Mobiliser product to allow remote deposits, phone airtime refills, bill payments, insurance purchases, money transfers, cash withdrawals at agencies and ATMs, access to credit, and even investment transactions from customers’ own mobile handsets. These services will be activated via scratch cards.
Mobile banking has been gaining traction in recent years as a solution for populations in developing countries that have been largely ignored by traditional banks. A meteoric rise in the rates of mobile phone adoption in the developing world have triggered some to wonder if mobile phone technology can actually be a solution to poverty: as reported by MicroCapital, a report from the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor and an article in the New York Times Magazine have both addressed the question in recent weeks.
MoneyBox and Paybox expect to roll out mobile banking services in Nigeria “in the near future,” according to a statement, and then eventually throughout the rest of the continent.
According to Paybox, 80 percent of Nigerians are unbanked or underbanked, but the country’s mobile phone penetration rate of 28 percent would make mobile banking ripe for business.
Along with Integrated Capital Services, the MoneyBox Africa venture includes Interswitch, an electronic transaction switcher; e-Tranzact, an online payment system; and SWIC Microfinance Bank. An Internet search did not yield any further information about SWIC Microfinance Bank.
Paybox was founded in 1999 and started providing mobile payment enterprise solutions in five European countries. It has engaged mobile service providers on several continents as well as MasterCard International.
By Stephen Son
Additional Resources:
PR Web: “MoneyBoxAfrica Partners with Paybox for Largest Mobile Financial Ecosystem Across Africa”
MicroCapital.org article, May 7, 2008: “PRESS RELEASE: CGAP Report on Mobile Banking Sees Potential to Reach Millions of Unbanked Poor”
MicroCapital.org article, April 21, 2008: “New York Times Magazine Surmises Cell Phones Can Transform Developing World in Similar Vein as Microfinance”
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