An M-Pesa agent. Safaricom is among the first telecoms in the region to
receive the just launched GSMA Mobile Money Certification. FILE PHOTO |
NATION
Three telecom firms in East Africa — Safaricom, Vodacom Tanzania
and Tigo Tanzania — are among the first to receive the just launched
GSMA Mobile Money Certification, in recognition of their mobile money
transfer services.
They were joined by Orange Côte
d’Ivoire and Telenor Microfinance Bank Ltd (Easypaisa Pakistan) at the
recent Mobile 360 conference in West Africa in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire,
where GSMA launched the scheme.
GSMA Mobile Money
Certification is a global scheme for mobile money providers to offer
safer, more transparent and more resilient financial services to
millions of mobile money users.
The five telcos cover 98 million accounts in four markets.
“The
GSMA Mobile Money Certification is a consumer-focused initiative that
offers them confidence that a provider has taken steps to ensure their
funds are in safe hands, their rights are protected and they can expect a
high level of customer service,” said GSMA chief regulatory officer
John Giusti.
Certification process
The certification follows a three-year consultative process led
by the GSMA, which worked with providers in Africa, Asia and Latin
America to understand the challenges of their business and assemble best
practices from these markets.
“The certification
provides the company an edge in a competitive market and increases the
consistency of the company’s services,” said Vodacom Tanzania managing
director Ian Ferrao.
The certificate comes at a time when Vodacom is marking a decade since the introduction of M-Pesa services in the country.
Tigo
chief officer of mobile financial services Hussein Sayed said that the
certification is evidence that the company has taken steps to ensure
that customers’ funds are in safe hands, and that their rights are being
observed through best business practices.
To be
certified, a telecom must demonstrate it is compliant with eight
high-level principles and 300 detailed criteria covering issues such as
security, consumer rights and the prevention of money laundering,
financing of terrorism and fraud.
The benchmark for
achieving certification has been set high to serve as an aspiration to
all providers and a pass mark of 100 per cent is required, according to
GSMA.
GSMA represents the interest of about 800 mobile
telecoms operators and more than 300 companies that operate in the
mobile space across the globe. Currently, about 690 million people have
mobile money accounts.
No comments :
Post a Comment