·
Banking and payments expert Lafferty Group
held annual Council meetings in Dubai
for first time
·
Councils propose partnerships with mobile
network operators (MNOs) to achieve greater financial inclusion
Dubai, 6 January, 2015: The
Middle East and North Africa region’s unbanked and
underbanked sectors remain a major retail banking frontier.
This was among the primary
conclusions from the recent Lafferty International Councils held in Dubai. The three
high-profile Council Meetings, namely the International Cards and Payments
Council, the International Retail Banking Council and the Global Merchant
Services Council were organised by the Lafferty Group, the leading knowledge
services provider for the financial industry worldwide, in conjunction with Network
International, the leading payment solutions provider in the Middle
East.
The opportunity for regional
retail banks to explore ‘partnerships beyond payments’ with mobile
network operators (MNOs) and the
evolution of the prepaid card into a bank-lite core payment product were areas
considered at the Lafferty Councils, where the focus of discussion was on how
retail banks can use innovation to consolidate profits and reach the unbanked
and underbanked sectors.
The Councils highlighted the
potential for retail banks in the region to partner with MNOs to provide loans,
deposits and other services to mobile clients in the context of an increasingly
‘mobile’ environment, where the payments business is being
transformed worldwide. It was stressed that the MNOs need banks for their
capital and risk management strengths while banks need the MNOs for their
ability to deliver financial services without a physical infrastructure and
because the MNOs’ client data was the most up to date and reliable.
The Councils also stated that
prepaid will play a major role in banking the unbanked in India, most of Asia and Africa.
It was concluded that the prepaid card was now evolving into a bank-lite core
product, sometimes linked to bank accounts and sometimes with its own line of
credit attached. It was felt that this appeals not only to the unbanked
and underserved sectors, but also to those that want a product that helps
them manage their financial lives. The Councils opined that prepaid could
become the comprehensive payment card – the ‘bank account of the
future’.
Bhairav Trivedi, Chief Executive
Officer, Network International, said ‘The Lafferty Council meetings have
provided timely insight into the issues facing the burgeoning payments industry
in the region. The banking and payments markets in the Middle East and North Africa are among the fastest growing in the world
and the UAE, in particular, leads the region in the adoption of online and
mobile payment systems. In a highly competitive environment, banks, financial
institutions across the region and solutions providers like Network
International are all looking toward new growth areas to capitalise on inherent
opportunities.’
Network International is the
largest acquirer in the United
Arab Emirates. In the last three years, the
company has witnessed a doubling in volume of transactions processed, reaching
almost 400 million transactions in 2013, amounting to AED 70 billion in volume.
