Interswitch - Oct 2019

INTERSWITCH

INTERSWITCH

The Key to Africa’s

Electronic Payment Revolution PRODUCTION: Benjamin Southwold

Interswitch is an Africa-focused integrated digital payments and commerce company, focussed on facilitating the electronic circulation of money between both individuals and organisations on a timely and consistent basis. Interswitch is often spoken of as one of the most important companies in Africa’s digital and economic boom, continuously launching products and services to help people get their money to where it needs to be in a market rife with opportunity.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: TECHNOLOGY

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You would be hard pressed to name a more pertinent concern for a business of any size than electronic payments. Everything where an exchange of money is concerned is affected, in every sector and industry; it is fast becoming the sole payment method of modern society. Africa is an especially key market, having enjoyed an enviable streak of strong economic growth. For the past almost 20 years, the region has maintained an average GDP growth rate of 5%, which has outperformed the global average by some 2% per annum.

However, disruptions in global commodity prices and greater competition for global trade have made attaining future economic growth more uncertain: electronic payments offer as smooth and fast highway to access that crucial future growth. As reported

by World Economic Forum, a Visacommissioned Moody’s Analytics study into the impact of electronic payments

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on economies around the world found that, in emerging markets between 2011 and 2015, a 1% increase in card usage produced a colossal $29 billion increase in consumption.

For Africa, the potential is tremendous. According to the World Bank, roughly two-thirds of adults on the continent remain unbanked while card penetration is extremely low. By improving access to electronic payments and financial services in general, more people will be able to contribute actively to robust, sustained economic growth, and improve their lives. It is an ambitious vision of the future, but one with vast potential to unlock.

DIGITAL BOOM Interswitch started life in 2002 as a transaction switching and electronic payments processing company, and has come to be known today as a key player that builds and manages payment

infrastructure, as well as delivering innovative payment products and transactional services throughout the African continent.

Interswitch is a Pan-African, integrated, transaction and payment processing company, with a business model that covers shared, integrated e-payment solutions for financial and non-financial institutions. It enables electronic payments to facilitate e-commerce, and provides value-added services as well as real-time online electronic reporting and monitoring to various corporate organisations.

Founded by Nigerian engineer Mitchell Elegbe, after his realisation that piles of cash were being used to pay for everything, from groceries to utility bills, Nigerian consumers and businesses today make more than 300 million digital transactions a month across a suite of Interswitch-enabled channels. “With a strong competence in

INTERSWITCH

// WE WANTED TO PROVIDE SAFER, EASIER, FASTER AND MORE COST-EFFECTIVE WAYS OF PAYMENT EXCHANGE. IN TEN YEARS THE BRAND HAS SURVIVED, GROWN AND BLOSSOMED INTO THIS FORMIDABLE STATURE, AND WE CANNOT BUT SHARE OUR STORY WITH NIGERIANS // providing secure and continuously available information technology and infrastructure solutions and services, Interswitch helps customers reduce costs, increase revenues, tighten security, expand product offerings, and improve service levels on technology,” says Interswitch of its exhaustive range of capabilities.

“Our direct connection with leading banks and other international payment platforms enables customers

to have secure, continuous access to all the ATMs on the Interswitch network irrespective of ownership and location.”

An authority in the burgeoning African electronic finance game, Interswitch is uniquely placed to offer training and advisory services in the e-payments and e-business industry.

“We advise clients how to get the best return from their investments in electronic payments, and train to bridge identified gaps in knowledge, learning

and development,” the company outlines. “Our vast knowledge and experience in e-payments consistently sets us apart from other e-payment training providers. No matter how big you are, public or private, and in what industries or sectors you do business, we can help you work smarter and reach your goals.”

It is surprising, given how quietly it has taken place, but Africa is digitising rapidly, a trend which has largely escaped the view of many global investors and executives. The continent already has 122 million active users of mobile financial services, more than half the global total, and smartphone connections and mobile data traffic are increasing rapidly.

“Clearly, there is significant latent demand for digital payments in many markets of sub-Saharan Africa, and widespread consumer acceptance of

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: TECHNOLOGY

mobile-communications technology is highly encouraging,” opined McKinsey and Company. “For players that are able and willing to move in the near future, there are also opportunities to win important first-mover advantages.”

CROSS BORDERS Interswitch delivers digital business and consumer services through its Quickteller Paypoint solutions, and in June announced that it was to partner with International Airtime Top Up to facilitate cross border airtime transactions. Originating from Uganda, these will reach over 150 destination countries supported including, China, Ethiopia, Ghana, India and South Africa.

“Quickteller is a robust consumer services platform for convenient Airtime Recharge, Funds Transfer, Bill Payments and Western Union Transfer,” its creators set out. International Airtime Top Up, meanwhile, is East Africa’s largest international mobile top up service for

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traders, tourists, business travellers and many more. Currently connected across over 370 mobile network operators in East Africa and spanning 150 countries, it can reach more than three billion mobile subscribers worldwide.

According to Peter Kawumi, Interswitch Uganda, Country General Manager, “the service will build on our growing agent network to offer real airtime top up convenience to consumers across the country. With the costs of cross border roaming and calls falling rapidly, we are excited about this partnership that allows us to deliver even more relevant services to these customers.”

10 YEARS OF VERVE “As an Africa-focused integrated digital payments and commerce company, we have continued to set the pace through strategic partnerships and the introduction of innovative products and services that are tailored to the African market. Our ability to understand the

uniqueness of our market and create bespoke products and services that optimise business processes is a key strength,” Interswitch says.

Perfectly exemplifying this is Verve, a leading payments technology and card scheme business in Africa, launched by Interswitch Group to reduce the burden of cash payment settlement in Nigeria. Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, Verve classic

// OUR VAST KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE IN E-PAYMENTS CONSISTENTLY SETS US APART FROM OTHER E-PAYMENT TRAINING PROVIDERS //

INTERSWITCH

// OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS, VERVE HAS BEEN REINVENTING THE PAYMENT INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE AND PROVIDING NIGERIANS WITH MORE SEAMLESS PAYMENT EXCHANGE OPTIONS SUCH AS E-CASH, PAYCODE, USSD, AND CHIP+PIN CARDS // card is today accepted in Nigeria and 21 African countries, and the recently launched Verve Global Card is taken in 185 countries, including Nigeria, Africa and ever popular travel destinations such as US, UK and Dubai.

Speaking as the decade was notched up, Cherry Eromosele, Group Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Interswitch, encapsulated how instrumental Verve had been in transforming payments on the continent. “Great brands are great stories; we are proud of the story and

proposition we have created. Our story is one of resilience, and Verve card has helped to solve the inefficiencies of cash handling in a very big way. At its inception in 2009, our intention was to use technology to drive the financial service industry in Nigeria.

“We wanted to provide safer, easier, faster and more cost-effective ways of payment exchange. In ten years the brand has survived, grown and blossomed into this formidable stature, and we cannot but share our story with Nigerians.”

Mike Ogbalu III, Verve International

Divisional CEO, concluded with his excitement about this milestone occasion, noting that Verve Card scheme was launched to re-define the face of payment landscape in Nigeria, Africa and beyond. “Mission accomplished!

Over the past 10 years, Verve has been reinventing the payment industry landscape and providing Nigerians with more seamless payment exchange options such as e-cash, paycode, USSD, and Chip+pin cards.”

Verve Card scheme will now be key to Africa’s embracing of FinTech, moving beyond Africa to the rest of the world and establishing footprints in US, UK, Dubai and many more international locations.

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