PRESS RELEASE
Fundamo selected by Monet to launch shared
mobile money network in Pakistan
Bank Alfalah and Warid Telecom to launch the new branchless banking service on
Monet’s shared platform
Karachi, Pakistan, 13 March, 2013: Fundamo, a Visa company and one of the world’s largest specialist
mobile financial service providers, has been selected by Monet, an independent mobile financial services
company, to launch a mobile money network in Pakistan. The platform, now approved by the State Bank
of Pakistan, will be able to enable providers and partners that share a common objective, to accelerate
the delivery of convenient, secure and affordable mobile financial services to the banked, unbanked and
underbanked of Pakistan.
Bank Alfalah Limited (BAFL), the sixth largest financial institution in Pakistan, and Warid Telecom Private
Limited (Warid) have teamed up to launch a new mobile financial services brand on the platform. The
platform will enable BAFL and Warid to jointly offer mobile and branchless banking to its existing and
potential customer base. Monet provides a managed service platform, agent management services and
bill aggregation services to new financial institutions and network operators interested in entering
branchless banking services with a faster time to market. Monet, a first of its kind provider, is creating
linkages with existing deployments, financial switches, channels and networks to provide a standardized
offering in the market.
Despite the growth of financial services the majority of Pakistanis remain unbanked. According to the
Pakistan Access to Finance Survey, only 12 percent of the population has access to formal financial
services (A2FS, 2012). Conversely, mobile penetration stands at nearly 70 percent (Pakistan
Telecommunications Authority, 2013). A recent study by the Boston Consulting Group estimates that 35
percent of Pakistan’s adult population will be using mobile financial services by 2020. Now is the perfect
time to introduce new branchless banking services to Pakistan.
“We are building an open and collaborative eco-system which benefits all the stakeholders of the financial
services ecosystem in Pakistan. Collaborative mobile financial services, as opposed to bank-led or telcoled deployment, is the paradigm shift which will assist in creating a bigger and less costly enabling
environment for the issuers, acquirers and service providers,” said Ali Abbas Sikander, CEO of Monet.
“Financial Institutions are looking beyond technology, and want to focus on utilizing it to offer products
that give them access to new customers with a branchless advantage. Fundamo technology will enable
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easier interactions across our shared eco-system; our Mobile Money Network. This will drive collaboration
between banks, mobile operators, merchants and distribution networks to bridge the financial services
divide between the banked and unbanked customers.”
“The platform allows service providers to think big, start small and scale fast. The result will be an
ecosystem that that will support the long term and sustained growth of the Pakistani mobile financial
services market,” said Aletha Ling, COO at Fundamo, a Visa company. “We have a deep understanding
and commitment to the Pakistan market having worked with a number of providers from the very early
stages of the market. We are committed to working with our clients to achieve not only the technical but
also the business success of their mobile money projects and look forward to working with the team at
Monet to leverage our joint capabilities for market success.”
“Visa is committed to driving financial inclusion in Pakistan,” said Kamran Siddiqi, General Manager of
Visa Middle East and North Africa. “At Visa we believe that everyone has the right to basic financial and
payment services. We see access to financial services plays a critical role in poverty alleviation and the
acceleration of a country’s economic development. Although there has been a significant rise of
branchless banking in Pakistan, huge swaths of the population still lack access to services. We are
pleased to work with leading companies such as Monet, Bank Alfalah and Warid Telecom to boost
access to financial services using the mobile phone.”
- ENDSAbout Monet
Monet is a neutral and independent payments solutions company serving the Mobile financial services
market in Pakistan. It envisages to fulfill the market’s void of an independent Payment Services Provider
which is enabling a shared eco-system. This will bridge the payments divide between the banked and the
unbanked customers.
With new partner banks, merchants, billers and distribution networks joining its Mobile Money Network, it
will enable partners to reach new customers with innovative products and services.
We at Monet are passionate about entrepreneurship and strongly believe that convenient and cheaper
access to financial services will provide much needed impetus to entrepreneurship in the country spurring
a distribution of wealth. We aspire to be an entrepreneurial role model enabling new and exciting
business models for our customers, partners and economy at large. . For more information, visit
http://www.monet-online.com/
About Visa Inc.
Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial
institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable
electronic payments. We operate one of the world’s most advanced processing networks—VisaNet—that
is capable of handling more than 24,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for
consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend
credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution
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customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with
credit products. For more information, visit corporate.visa.com.
About Fundamo, a Visa company
Fundamo is a wholly owned subsidiary of Visa Inc. and leading platform provider of mobile financial
services for mobile network operators and financial institutions. Fundamo’s Enterprise Mobile Financial
Services platform has been deployed in more than 40 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East,
offering mobile financial services to unbanked and under-banked mobile subscribers including person-toperson payments, bill payments, wireless airtime top-up, and ticketing. The company's vision is for a truly
connected financial services ecosystem that supports the ubiquity of mobile devices. Fundamo is
headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa. For more information, visit www.fundamo.com
Media Contact:
Lana Pike, Fundamo, +27 (83) 459-2420, lpike@visa.com
Daniel Lowther, CCGroup, +44 (774) 763-6687, fundamo@ccgrouppr.com
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