Organisations which
have achieved exceptional success and driven forward the development of mobile
money have gained global recognition for their work at a major international
event.
The Mobile Money
Global Awards, which took place in Istanbul at the Mobile Money & Digital
Payments Global Conference, celebrated achievements across six key categories
of payment. The winners, who received their trophies at the event, have all
made valuable contributions to the industry, spearheading innovations or
enabling payments to remote communities.
Winner of the Collaboration
Commendation award, Airtel , is highly regarded as a corporate ambassador
of mobile banking and streamlined customer service. The India-based
organisation has grouped all mobile banking services under a common USSD short
code, so by dialling one number a customer can access the bank's range of mobile
banking services. Airtel was also the first operator to introduce mobile
talktime recharge from mobile bank account.
Vodafone Turkey and
TMOB were joint winners of the Creative Contactless award. TMOB, a US-based global
technology company, partnered with Vodafone to enable mobile payments via
iBeacon for the first time in Turkey and Europe. iBeacon sends various
personalised notifications to a mobile device ranging from greetings to
promotional information.
The Disruptive
Digital Payments award was scooped by Ericsson and ASBANC. Ericsson is working with
ASBANC, Peru's National Bank Association, on a project to deliver a new channel
for financial inclusion in Peru. Ericsson is delivering ASBANC's Mobile Money
solution, the country's largest private initiative for financial inclusion.
This project provides easy-to-use and secure next-generation mobile financial
services, and reaches out to millions who do not have access to traditional
banking services. Peruvians can now receive, store, transfer and withdraw money
in a completely secure environment.
US based Panamax won
Excellence in
Branchless Banking for MobiFin, a comprehensive mobile financial services
solution that enabled VPS International to serve those customers, in Tanzania,
who have low financial connectivity and were less included in the economic
progress of the country. There are about 31 cities in Tanzania, out of which
about 15 cities now have agents who use MobiFin. The dwellers of these cities
are people from traditional tribes like Sukuma, Nyamzwezi, Chagga and Shirazi.
This means that they now have access to the most common
banking facilities in their village or in the palm of their hands with their
mobile phone.
Innovation in Digital Banking was awarded to Australia’s
Westpac Bank. Working with Fiserv, they simplified and unified their digital
banking service, moving to a single platform for online, tablet and mobile
banking. This allows customers to customise their digital banking experience.
For example, customers can personalise their online banking user interface with
drag and drop widgets.
The Award winners were
chosen by public vote having been shortlisted by a panel of experts. The
ceremony took place on Wednesday 19 November during Mobile Money & Digital
Payments Global. The event brought together leading experts from across the
globe to debate the world’s most pressing payments issues at a renowned
conference and exhibition. Now in its eighth year, the event took place for the
first time in Turkey, a country positioned at the forefront of technology
innovation and the perfect backdrop to host the world’s most exciting payments
event.
