Africa’s electronic transactions grow as card services join mobile market

{Electronic payment service companies, Visa and MasterCard have launched card services aimed at Africa’s growing mobile payment industry.
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VISA services will launch in Kenya and then expanded to Gabon, Ghana, Madagascar, Rwanda, Seychelles and Tanzania later this year.

According to reports, Visa is partnering with African telecommunications company Bharti Airtel to link Visa cards to customers’ mobile phones.

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Upon its launch, Airtel Money subscribers in Kenya, for example, will be able to get a physical Visa card tied to their mobile payment accounts.

Airtel customers will be able to use their phone’s pre-paid account to shop in stores and online wherever Visa is accepted.

They can also use the Visa card at the ATM to withdraw money from their Airtel Money account.

Users will enter a PIN number into their phones each time they want to approve a transaction.

Also, MasterCard announced a partnership with the Egyptian government to attach a MasterCard to every Egyptian’s national identification card.

As part of the agreement with MasterCard, the Egyptian government will issue digital ID cards, which can be used to pay for services including government fees, mobile bills, and items in stores.

Each Egyptian will be able to link that mobile payment account to a MasterCard number that will eventually be displayed on the ID.

The Egyptian government also plans to pay salaries and social benefits through the card.

As smartphones become more common on the continent, Apple Pay-like services are expected to be introduced as well.

Some banking customers in Zimbabwe and Nigeria enjoy mobile pay deals to receive funds from abroad directly into their MasterCard mobile pay accounts.

Gallup polls estimate that 80 per cent of sub-Saharan African households have a cell phone.

In Egypt, there are more cell phones than people.

Mobile penetration in the country was 113 per cent in 2012, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Communication.

Global financial giants have moved to capitalise on the rapidly growing African market for mobile technology.

Since 2006, African mobile phone users have linked their phones to prepaid payment accounts, in order to send money to each other, pay utility bills or buy more airtime.

Read the original article on Theafricareport.com