InterSwitch in conjunction with telecommunication giants, Globacom, and Nigeria’s foremost bank, introduced an innovative card product called GloFirst CashCard. GloFirst CashCard is a pre-paid debit card which allows users who do not have bank accounts to perform electronic transactions like bank account holders and debit card users via the Glo Mobile network. This is the first time non-bank account holders will be able to use a payment card. GloFirst is available to both bank account holders and the non-banking public. You won’t need to have a bank account to own a GloFirst CashCard. The new product which boosts the country’s electronic payment system can be used for a variety of transactions, including withdrawing cash from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and day-to-day purchase transactions in outlets with point-of-sale terminals (POS). Through Glo M-Banking, GloFirst users can have swift and easy access to their bank accounts from their mobile phones and perform certain transactions such as checking account balances, transferring funds and ordering checkbooks. The card could be used for making purchases on the internet, in retail stores, supermarkets, fuel stations, hotels and restaurants where CashCard payments are accepted.“GloFirst can also be used to withdraw money, check card balance, print mini statement, change Personal Identification Number (PIN), and transfer money to another CashCard or bank account. According to Globacom’s Chief Operating Officer, Mohamed Jameel, the product can also be used to send and receive funds. “For example, parents can send money to their children in schools using GloFirst as long as they are on the Glo network. The CashCard can also be used to buy airtime,” he added. GloFirst is available to both existing and new subscribers to the network and affords subscribers the opportunity to do much more from their handsets. Commenting on Globacom’s collaboration with First Bank and Interswitch, Jameel stated that is to be expected as the three companies are truly innovative brands, and leaders in their fields. In his welcome address, Managing Director/Chief Executive of FirstBank, Moyo Ajekigbe, represented by the bank’s Executive Director, Retail Banking (Lagos & West), Remi Babalola, said FirstBank is proud to be part of this innovative product, which seeks to extend the frontiers of banking services to the majority of the populace.Mitchell Elegbe, the Managing Director of Interswitch, noted that apart from being convenient and trendy, the new product is safe, secure and reliable. “The user’s money is safe even if the card is lost,” he added. He noted that Interswitch, being the leader in switching technology, was pleased to partner with FirstBank, the largest and most successful bank in the country and Globacom, Africa’s fastest growing and most innovative telecommunications network. He added that, “First Bank, Globacom and Interswitch are united by a passion for excellence and for proffering solutions to our customers’ needs”.Elegbe said the card is suitable “for use by people who do not have a bank debit card (ATM card), and those who don’t wish to use their bank debit card to make purchases online and that it can be funded from any bank on the Interswitch network. Globacom’s COO also said that GloFirst can be obtained, free of charge, at any First Bank branch or Glo World outlets located in strategic locations across the country. “All a customer needs to do is to fill up a form and the GloFirst card would be handed over to him”, he said. The customer is then required to change the initial Personal Identification Number (PIN) that comes with the GloFirst before he begins to use the card. A history of the GloFirst CashCard transactions is obtainable on the internet at www.mynigeriacashcard.com after the customer has registered.
OmniPay Africa
Update:June 21, 2007 OmniPay Africa had planned to become operational, conducting both in and outexchanges by June 18th. It now appears this service will be delayed several weeks. Establishment of OmniPay Africa has been on-going, designed to facilitate a remote and sophisticated payment capability to the majority of mankind underserved or excluded from traditional banking and constituting it properly is imperative. The complexities of making OmniPay Africa fully operational in an accelerated manner have been greater than originally anticipated causing this delay. We assure you we are working diligently to bring OmniPay Africa online.Notice May 24, 2007: Effective immediately, G&SR will be leasing the OmniPay business to OmniPay Africa. All OmniPay exchanges will now involve e-gold transfers and money payments into/out of OmniPay Africa's e-gold and bank accounts respectively. G&SR has contracted to serve as the Operator of OmniPay but will not be a party to actual exchanges.In terms of immediate impacts:The OmniPay exchange service will suspend operation pending provisioning of a suitable bank account for OmniPay Africa. It is anticipated this service interruption will start May 24, 2007 with service resuming on or about June 18, 2007.With resumption, all bank wires from customers must be directed tothe new bank coordinates which will be posted on the omnipay.com website.The original plan was for OmniPay Africa to organize as a licensee of G&SR, the US company that owns OmniPay. A substantial development effort was underway to support the additional requirements for over-the-counter exchange operations such as biometric validation. However, recent actions of the US government, originating from a long-standing and misguided animus on the part of the US Secret Service, necessitate immediate action. Specifically, SEB Bank in Estonia has notified G&SR it is closing its bank account at close of business May 25, 2007 explicitly because of the Press Release from the US DOJ.We regret the temporary interruption of OmniPay services. Just as the US government's recent actions in seizing e-gold accounts of e-gold Ltd., G&SR, The Bullion Exchange, AnyGoldNow, IceGold, GitGold, The Denver Gold Exchange, GoldPouch Express and 1MDC (and forcing G&SR to liquidate the seized assets!) have severely damaged not only these exchange businesses but also their innumerable customers, their forcing this complex transition to be performed on an emergency basis is simply shameful.We do not however regret the transfer of OmniPay responsibilities to OmniPay Africa. As will become abundantly clear in coming months, the OmniPay Africa team is highly qualified to guide OmniPay to a higher level, a genuinely global service that will foster a beneficial surge in e-gold's emergence while bringing significant advantages to emerging economies.Strategic BackgroundA major strategic emphasis for e-gold is to provide sophisticated remote payments capabilities to the majority of mankind underserved by or excluded by the banking system. An important focus is international remittances - payments from migrant workers living in advanced economies sending a portion of their earnings to their home country. For many developing economies, migrant remittances constitute a significant portion of foreign exchange income and even GDP. Traditional remittance mechanisms, however, are expensive and inflexible. It is estimated that lowering the net cost of remittances by a few percentage points could measurably enhance economic development. There is also increasing awareness that non-traditional banking such as micro-credit facilities can also aid in bootstrapping lesser developed economies.OmniPay Africa, an entirely non-US company, majority owned by prominent business leaders from the Francophone countries of West Africa, was therefore organized to extend the usefulness of e-gold by providing support for over-the-counter exchange and by fostering the integration of e-gold into micro-credit lending institutions. The combination of e-gold (settling the international transfer of value with no need for a financial intermediary) and OmniPay (offering standardized, reliable, low cost exchange to/from local currency) will serve as a flexible low cost alternative to the traditional systems.
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