By Irene Gaitirira
The early dramatic rise of mobile money across East and West Africa has led to an influx of mobile money services and the exploration of innovative partnerships between banks, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and retailers.
This move has created what Liquid Telecom Africa refers to as “a large but unwieldy ecosystem of mobile financial service propositions looking for ways to easily and securely integrate with third parties.”
RELATED:Global Capital Fuels African Property Markets
So what is the problem?
A more advanced “payments ecosystem that brings together all the latest innovations in mobile financial services” is needed. But the Mauritius-based telecom laments that the more sophisticated mobile wallet solutions appear on the market, the harder it becomes to create a payments ecosystem that can accommodate all of them.
“There is a growing need to not only bring together disparate mobile wallet and mobile banking offerings, but to also integrate the large number of third party programmes – the partnerships with supermarkets, gas stations, utility companies and alike. Which is why Liquid Telecom Payment Solutions is offering one unified platform that can bring all these parties together,” the company says in a statement.
RELATED:Meeting Cultural Disruption in the Digital Era
Liquid Telecom says its Mobile Financial System Platform “is the first white label product of its kind in Africa that can provide banks, MNOs and retailers with access to value added services from unlimited stakeholders on any mobile wallet programme.”
It says its platform enables “businesses to integrate various wallet programmes and service providers – creating a new ecosystem of collaborative mobile financial services.”