One of the leading banks in Mauritania, Banque Populaire de Mauritanie (BPM), has launched a state-of-the-art mobile banking service called Bankily earlier this year. The service has received a positive response from consumers. With banking penetration around 30%, Bankily is helping to modernise banking and payments in Mauritania and encouraging financial inclusion in the country. It, in essence, is bringing a digital revolution in the banking industry of Mauritania by enabling people to open and manage bank account, transfer money and make payments using mobile phones.
Bankily is an inclusive service. Bankily users can not only transfer money to other Bankily users, BPM bank accounts and other bank accounts in Mauritania, but they can also send money to non-Bankily unbanked consumers using the recipient’s mobile number. Bankily offers diverse ways to make money transfer – using recipient’s mobile number, or selecting recipient from Facebook contact list, or via contactless payments using NFC and QR Code. The recipients receive a notification or message with a transaction code. Non-Bankily users can withdraw the money transfer in cash using the transaction code at Bankily agents, BPM bank branches or BPM ATMs.
Bankily has been designed with complete focus on customers. For example, after first electricity and water bill payment, users are automatically notified about their next invoice. In case of financial emergency, users can request money from their family and friends and instantly receive money once approved by the sender. To enable wider service access, BPM has created extensive Bankily agent network aimed at facilitating last mile transactions such as deposits and withdrawals. Moreover, to boost digital payments at merchants via Bankily, BPM has registered multiple merchants from diverse categories such as supermarkets, grocery stores, pharmacies, fuel stations, travel agencies, hospitals, schools and restaurants. Payments at merchants can be made by scanning the QR Code or entering the merchant code in the mobile phone.
Mohamed M’Rabih Rabou, Chief, Digital Banking Services at Banque Populaire de Mauritanie, said, “Through Bankily, BPM aims to extend financial inclusion and banking penetration in Mauritania. The product aims to make the opening of a bank account accessible to all Mauritanian citizens regardless of their geographic location and purchasing power. This mobile banking service, fully supports the measures undertaken by the Central Bank of Mauritania to modernisation and digitize the means of payments in the country. We are happy to partner with Comviva for offering Bankily service and meet the financial aspirations of our customers.”
Srinivas Nidugondi, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Mobile Financial Solutions, Comviva said, “Digital technology is transforming the banking industry and Comviva is enabling this transformation for banks and financial institutions globally. In Mauritania, we are carrying forward this digital revolution with BPM through the Bankily service, delivering quick, convenient and secure digital banking and payment services to Mauritanians.”
BPM offers individuals, professionals and businesses an innovative range of banking products and services ranging from deposits to loans. It has built a dense network of branches covering most of the major cities in the country. The BPM aims to meet the needs and expectations of its customers by offering innovative and quality banking products and services.
Comviva’s mobiquity® Banking suite, trademarked in India only, is a comprehensive digital banking and payments solution for banks and financial institutions, to build, manage, optimise and deliver the omni-channel banking experience, as well as continuously iterate and engage the consumers, through instant configuration capability, personalisation and experimentation engine. This empowers banks to deliver a hyper-personalised experience, thereby enhancing the customer’s value, and, subsequently, profitably transition to the digital age. Moreover, the product also delivers seamless, swift and secure digital payments to the customers, by facilitating prepaid wallet and leveraging technologies such as HCE, tokenisation and QR Code.
