The scheme will focus on helping consumers in sectors of the so-called ‘underbanked’ community who regularly send money back to their home countries to quickly, easily and securely transfer funds using mobile payments technology. According to the World Bank, the global annual volume of international remittances via formal channels was estimated at $257 billion in 2005.
According to MasterCard and The GSM Association (GSMA), those receiving funds would be notified via text message, after which they would be able to access those funds via debit and prepaid accounts issued by local banks. The companies added that the specific solutions needed to enable such transfers would be tailored to the individual needs of each pilot market.
Roy Dunbar, president of global technology and operations at MasterCard Worldwide, commented: This pilot provides a unique opportunity to test the use of our global payments products and platform to help create access to the global economy for people facing barriers to participation.
Rob Conway, CEO of GSMA, added: We believe that this pilot program has tremendous potential because a person will no longer be tied to a particular place, such as an ATM or a branch office of a bank or other international payments service when either sending or accessing funds.
The pilot will bring together MasterCard’s current Money Send program and the mobile phone operators of GSMA. MasterCard intends to provide payment card products and the international transaction switching, clearing and settlement for MasterCard Money Send via its globally integrated network. According to MasterCard, its global processing platform will speed up transfers and can process transactions in 210 countries in 160 different currencies.
