Ericsson and ASBANC launch connected mobile money service in Peru

• ASBANC, Peru’s National Bank Association works with Ericsson to launch mobile wallet service called Bim
• Connected mobile money service will make it easy for subscribers to send, receive and spend money with mobile phones and smartphones throughout Peru
• ASBANC estimates that 2.1 million Peruvians will benefit from and own a mobile wallet by 2019

ASBANC, Peru’s National Bank Association, and Ericsson have launched the next-generation mobile financial services that aim to include 2.1 million unbanked Peruvians by 2019.

Ericsson’s solution includes a fully integrated platform, capable of hosting all services from different financial and commercial institutions to secure interoperability. The solution also allows financial service providers to reuse existing assets to bundle secure telecom and financial services. In addition, Ericsson has provided ASBANC with systems integration, learning services, managed services and support.

Oscar Rivera, President of ASBANC, says: “We see a great potential for this platform to extend and further strengthen the financial system in Peru. This is a huge inclusive effort done by the financial industry that now can count on the support from important companies within the private sector.”

Carolina Trivelli, Digital Money Project Manager, says: “We are confident that we will reach great achievements with digital money services. With this platform we will connect the unbanked with easy-to-use financial services that they could not previously access. Ericsson is a great partner and its continued support ensures we can achieve the project’s objectives.”

Peter Heuman, Head of M-Commerce, Ericsson says: “Ericsson is committed to advancing a more flexible and transparent global financial ecosystem. Our solution empowers banks and financial service providers to quickly launch mobile financial services. Our latest work with ASBANC is an example of Ericsson’s mobile-first technologies that are helping to create flexibility, interoperability and efficiency needed for countries, telcos and banks. These synergies are essential to fully capitalize on today’s mobile money opportunities.  “

The digital money platform is a project that, from the start, was promoted by ASBANC. Today, it encompasses efforts not only from all private banks, but participation from other private financial market agents as well, such as the country’s major Cajas (Savings Banks) and, from the public side, the Bank of the Nation. This combination of efforts has led to the formation of Pagos Digitales Peruanos S.A., the company that will be responsible for managing the digital money platform.

In emerging markets, like Peru, the development of mobile financial services is beneficial both on societal and individual levels. Mobile financial services provide the unbanked with money accounts and open the gates to the formal economy. In Africa and Latin America, this development is already apparent. This will benefit society over time and is an integral part of the entire development of countries.