MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: HFC Bank, Vodafone Fiji, PFIP, Epay Target Rural Fijians via Mobile Banking

Home Finance Company (HFC) Bank, which is headquartered in Suva, Fiji, recently announced a service that will allow its customers to perform transactions using mobile phones. The bank is collaborating with Hong Kong-based online payment platform Epay to allow customers to make payments through the M-PAiSA service of British telecommunications company Vodafone. Users will also be able to withdraw and deposit funds at any of approximately 1,000 point-of-service (POS) outlets in Fiji.

HFC hopes the new product will reach 66,000 people, including youth and rural women. The bank plans to expand the network to more service outlets, including via 1,000 additional Vodafone POS terminals within the next year. The technology required for HFC to provide these services was funded by the UN’s Pacific Financial Inclusion Program.

HFC Bank, which was founded in 1962, is a commercial bank with six branches and 31,000 retail customer accounts as of 2017. For 2016, the bank reported USD 702 million in total assets and net operating profit of USD 7 million.

By Ryan Gauthier, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

Pacific Financial Inclusion Program press release:
http://www.pfip.org/newsroom/press-releases/2017-2/hfc-bank-vodafone-agency-banking-now-operational/

Epay:
http://www.epay.com/en/index.htm

Vodafone:
http://www.vodafone.com/content/index.html

HFC Bank:
http://www.hfc.com.fj/

HFC Bank 2016 “Key Disclosure Statement”:
http://www.hfc.com.fj/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/SKDS-6×20-mono-pressad.pdf

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