Mobile Money is designed for developing and semi-developed markets and directly addresses the needs of mobile network operators (MNOs), banks and financial institutions. It aims to provide secure financial services for the unbanked.

Benefits for End-Users

Mobile Money extends formal, regulated, secure and affordable financial services to people who are not catered to by the traditional banking services. With Mobile Money, unbanked mobile subscribers can manage their income and payments securely, helping them build healthy and stable economic lifestyles.

Through a stored value account accessible from the mobile phone, consumers can:

• Deposit and withdraw cash
• Transfer money
• Pay bills
• Pay merchants
• Pay for services (e.g. clean drinking water) and education
• Receive salaries and welfare
• Receive and pay back micro-loans, insurance (micro-financing)
• Manage expenses

 

Benefits for Banks

For banks and financial institutions, Mobile Money provides the opportunity to deliver services to a large untapped market. With Mobile Money, banks can:

• Market and cross-sell financial services to the previously unbanked
• Generate transaction fees from new customers and new services
• Increase float
• Gain FX revenues from international remittance transactions
• Stimulate the existing customer base with Mobile Banking services

With the Gemalto mobile payment platform, mobile subscribers can turn cash into electronic funds that are stored in a Stored Value Account (SVA) – an in-system virtual account associated with their mobile number. The mobile wallet contains a value equivalent to money, which can be used to withdraw cash, send money, buy airtime, pay utility bills, and buy goods at affiliated merchants. Once basic financial services are established, a wealth of value added services can be launched, such as micro-finance, health services, and online payments.

The server-based wallet is agnostic to the access channel and thus can be accessed over both mobile and non-mobile methods. Most commonly customers will initiate transactions using their mobile handset, either through a dedicated secure SIM menu, over the USSD channel or by sending an SMS. Additional access methods include the internet, points of sale, ATMs, IVRs and much more.

Mobile network operators can harness the existing distribution network or rapidly build a new network to offer Mobile Money. Agents can extend services such as cash in, cash out, top-up, remittance and micro-financing – all directly from their mobile handset. The solution allows the appointment of distributors, sub-distributors and agents, and the assignment of transaction commissions and incentives for new customer acquisition. The mobile payment platform features rich reporting capabilities on transaction volumes, status and cash flow.

In order to manage daily business policies, the solution includes risk, limit and policy settings that can be defined per country, customer and account, as well as a flexible mechanism to deal with all relevant transaction parameters according to regulatory requirements, including Anti-Money Laundering (AML). Risks and limits are managed on all entities in order to minimize the risk of “day-zero fraud”, and predefined thresholds determine the credentials required per transaction. Abnormal account activity will cause transactions to fail.

Gemalto provides the industry’s leading Mobile Financial Services solution with end-to-end security and powerful transaction management. A superior user experience is possible, with no security trade-off. The Gemalto mobile payment platform is designed to address all aspects of payment security, including end-user privacy, non-repudiation and administrative privileges.

The Gemalto solution ensures that any new payment service, payment method, access channel or commerce program contemplated in the future can be delivered over the core platform. This very platform can initially power selected mobile financial services complimentary to existing offerings, and eventually host the entire range of services.

Mobile Money lies on the intersection of financial and telecom industries. As a leader in digital security and trusted partner of hundreds of financial institutions and MNOs worldwide, Gemalto delivers best-in-class software solutions, innovative vision and unique security technology.

With dozens of deployments worldwide of Mobile Financial Services, Gemalto’s solutions are helping service providers anticipate and respond to customers’ needs in terms of financial management, payments and banking products directly through the mobile phone.

NetOne, Zimbabwe

NetOne, a leading network operator in Zimbabwe, deployed Gemalto’s MFS solution for Mobile Money Transfer, which comprises of the server, user application, as well as system integration services. The SIM-based OneWallet service works on 100% of the handsets and enables all NetOne subscribers to perform secure and convenient money transfer using their mobile phone.
The solution’s user-friendly interface enables NetOne subscribers to make secure and easy peer-to-peer money transfers, pay utility bills and top-up prepaid mobile accounts. Cash merchants (or “Agents”) allow customers to perform cash in/out transactions, as well as airtime top-up.
Expanding the possibilities of Mobile Money Transfer, OneWallet also enables NetOne’s customers to have their salaries paid directly onto their phones – an innovative feature that greatly empowers the unbanked with a secure and convenient digital wallet solution.
NetOne also intends to work with the Government of Zimbabwe and Pension Fund schemes to allow the OneWallet to be used for pension payments and thus remove the need for traveling long distances to collect pension payments.

MTN Group

MTN MENA is part of the MTN Group, which serves over 100 million subscribers in Africa and the Middle East, including 30 million in the latter region. Gemalto worked in close cooperation with Fundamo, a leading mobile financial services provider, to jointly supply the complete solution for the MTN MobileMoney service.

The MTN MobileMoney service will enable MTN MENA to offer their subscribers a wide variety of financial services including money transfer, mobile payment and balance checking, mobile purchases, as well as the ability to buy airtime in real-time. MTN MobileMoney’s user friendly interface makes it simple and convenient for subscribers to enjoy financial services featuring simple menus and multiple language options, including English and a number of local languages.

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