Tag: mobile transactions

The mobile wallet solution will enable the distribution and use of digital aid in emergency situations.

According to a recent press release from Ericsson, the Swedish-based multinational telecommunications and equipment corporation is developing Ericsson Emergency Wallet, which is a mobile financial services solution designed for immediate deployment directly following a disaster or crises to support both affected populations and humanitarian organizations providing aid to these devastated regions.

The idea behind the emergency wallet is to help bring relief where financial infrastructure is lacking.

While this mobile wallet will no doubt be beneficial when a crisis strikes in any part of the world, the Ericsson Emergency Wallet is chiefly being developed for use in emergency circumstances where financial infrastructure is poor or virtually non-existent. It will provide relief workers and impacted populations with relief funds, helping to overcome problems that often arise with handling cash such as traceability, safety and expense.

The Ericsson Emergency Wallet could extend the benefits of relief funds to the people who desperately need them.

According to the press release, there is an urgent need for an emergency wallet solution. The reason is that mobile money and mobile wallets are among the safest, fastest and most efficient methods of extending the basic financial transaction benefits to the people who require them.

Many of the telecommunication company’s humanitarian partners have requested digital financial services solutions for disasters and other situations of emergency, and Ericsson has already presented its wallet plans at the World Humanitarian Summit, in support of the United Nations’ Connecting Business Initiative.

Moreover, the design and prototyping of the emergency wallet is co-funded through the Level One Project from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“In partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we are helping to build a new ecosystem that creates better opportunities for global financial inclusion. This unique combination of partners will be a powerful catalyst for bringing mobile financial services to humanitarian relief efforts everywhere,” stated Elaine Weidman-Grunewald, Vice President, Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, Ericsson.

The Ericsson Emergency Wallet shows the potential ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has to revolutionize humanitarian response.

UK companies will soon receive m-payments platform which sends payments instantly via Pingit or Paym.

British multinational banking and financial service company, Barclays, has teamed up with digital banking solutions provider, Bottomline Technologies, to offer UK businesses an instant mobile payments platform that will enable businesses to send payments fast and directly to customers via their mobile phone number. The platform is Bottomline Technologies’ C-Series payments processing module and will enable payments to be sent through Barclays’ Pingit mobile app or the Barclays-supported Paym mobile payment platform.

The transactions can be made without requiring the bank account details of consumers.

The businesses that use the service – companies ranging from utilities to insurers – will be able to make instant mobile payments, which also includes refunds, directly to consumers with just their phone numbers. No bank account details are needed.

With the service, consumers can make payments nearly immediately via their mobile phone, whether it’s to pay a gas bill or for travel fares. On the flip side, businesses can pay their customers without having to handle the sensitive bank account details, reported The Financial Times.

To use the instant mobile payments service, consumers and companies must be registered with Paym or Pignit.

In order to use the service, consumers and companies must be registered with either Paym or Pingit. That said, recipients who want to receive a payment through their phone number do not have to bank with Barclays, nor do they need to have a smartphone to use Pignit.

Furthermore, according to Bottomline, “If a recipient wants to receive a payment via their phone number but is not registered to either service, they will receive an SMS inviting them to register to Pingit within five days.”

That said, for businesses, the service does require a Barclays Corporate UK bank account.

Combined, both Pignit and Paym cover more than five million accounts in the UK. Bottomline stated that “There are already over 3 million phone numbers registered with Pingit and over 3 million registered with Paym.”

Pingit managing director, Darren Foulds, commented on the instant mobile payments platform saying that it is a payment solution that will offer additional security as well as faster speed and convenience for companies and their customers.