Monday, 8 Nov 2010

FinBank Plc, in partnership with 3Line Card Management, has concluded plans to introduce agency banking in Nigeria.

In a statement on Tuesday, the bank said it was at the fore front of using technology to offer financial inclusion services to the under-served and unbanked segment of the economy.

The statement added that light banking services, which were referred to as “street banking”, including transaction set, such as cash withdrawal, fund transfer and the fund load to the under-served and unbanked group, would be offered on the platform.

FinBank and 3Line had worked together to take “FlashWalletCard services to the market. FinBank is well known for its pioneering effort in the design and operations of the FlashmeCash scheme, a service that has allowed the banks’ customers to perform money transfer, bill payment and other services, using the mobile phone platform,” the statement said.

According to the statement, due to the practical challenges of building bank branches in all under-served areas, where FinBank‘s FlashmeCash customers live, the bank decided to partner 3Line, a leader in the provision of financial access to under-served and un-banked segments, on leveraging its transaction processing and e-payment infrastructure and card scheme.

Through this partnership, 3Line provided a platform through which FinBank‘s mobile platform and its banking host were integrated into 3Line‘s platform. The result of this collaboration was the birth of FlashWallet, a 72k smartcard (chip + PIN) EMV2 compliant card that is based on the Freedom card solution.

According to the statement, “As a result, customers of FinBank‘s FlashMeCash are now able to use their FlashWallet cards at any of the bank‘s ATMs in Nigeria. Our correspondent learnt that the benefit of this collaboration is that FlashMeCash holders now have access to more financial points to enjoy light banking services.”

 

Source: Punch