MoU for inter-operable mobile banking signed
KATHMANDU, JUN 20 -
Five banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Finaccess to launch inter-operable mobile banking using the Hello Paisa platform. The pacts represent a major step towards mobile banking. Hello Paisa is the country’s first and only share access mobile financial services platform.
The BFIs that have signed MoUs with Finaccess are Laxmi Bank, Bank of Kathmandu, Siddhartha Bank, Commerz and Trust Bank and International Leasing and Finance Company.
The agreement intends to establish arrangements for coordination and cooperation between the BFI’s, maximize customer uptake and eco-system setup, avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts and modalities of inter-operability like sharing of customer touch points such as each other’s agents and branch networks.
“Now, these banks can roll out their products related to mobile banking using our platform,” said Sanjay Bahadur Shah, executive chairman of Finaccess.
According to Shah, Hello Paisa can be a platform for anything to do with mobile financial services from mobile banking and mobile remittance to mobile payment. The Hello Paisa platform, according to Shah, is inter-operable which means the banks are interconnect.
Using Hello Paisa, Laxmi Bank has rolled out a product called Mobile Khata, its second product regarding mobile banking. The bank launched Mobile Money two years ago.
Laxmi Bank chief executive officer Suman Joshi said Mobile Khata would have a wider base than Mobile Money as it is being launched targeting rural and semi-urban areas. “Mobile Money was for those having an account with Laxmi Bank and was primarily for urban consumers,” said Joshi. “In case of Mobile Khata, one does not need to have an account with Laxmi Bank.” The bank is currently running Mobile Khata in Sindhupalchok district as a pilot project.
In the last three years, banks have been increasingly adopting new technologies to deliver financial services to the unbanked. The launch of Mobile Money by Laxmi Bank, Mobile Cash by Kumari Bank and Mobile Wallet by Bank of Kathmandu illustrates this trend. Nepal Rasta Bank has allowed commercial and development banks to provide mobile banking services.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
