Mastercard on Wednesday announced that it will use Facebook Messenger to provide technology to small businesses in Africa and Asia to drive affordable acceptance of electronic and mobile payments.
This announcement was made at Mobile World Congress (www.MobileWorldCongress.com).
Access
to digital payments will help these businesses expand to new markets,
and unlock financial services and products that enables them to grow
their livelihoods.
This
Messenger experience will launch in Nigeria, where Mastercard will pilot
a new Masterpass QR (https://Masterpass.com) bot to help business
owners’ move beyond cash transactions to accepting QR payments. Ecobank
(www.Ecobank.com) and Zenith Bank will support this inaugural program.
The pilot in Nigeria is the beginning of a larger plan by the two
companies to include more businesses into the digital economy.
According
to research done by The Fletcher School and Mastercard Center for
Inclusive Growth, of the $301 billion of funds flow from consumers to
businesses in Nigeria, 98 percent is still based on cash.
“Every
business owner is looking for ways to increase sales and draw new
customers into their stores. By offering QR-based digital payments,
smaller retailers can achieve these goals and create greater customer
stickiness with little to no investment beyond the phone they already
have,” said Jorn Lambert, Executive Vice President, Digital Channels and
Regions, Mastercard. “Masterpass QR opens up new commerce channels for
these merchants and enables them to create auditable transaction
records. These advances open doors to other financial tools and products
such as loans to drive added business growth.”
To get
started, businesses can send a request to the bot to enable QR
payments, receive approval from the bank, set up an account and start
accepting digital payments in a fast, simple and secure manner. Once the
account set up process is complete, business owners can print and
display the QR code in their stores or save the code on their phones.
Customers can pay by either scanning the code from their smartphone or
by entering the merchant ID associated with the QR code into their
feature phone.
“Brands
and developers around the world are turning to messaging to connect
with the 1.3 billion people who use Messenger each month,” said Kahina
Van Dyke, Director of Payments and Financial Services Partnerships at
Facebook. “We are pleased that Mastercard is developing a service on the
Messenger Platform to help small merchants use messaging to manage
their business and connect with their customers.”
Launched
in 2016, Masterpass QR provides people with any type of mobile phone
the ability to safely accept and make in-person purchases without cash
or a plastic card. It provides greater choice in payments and
complements Mastercard’s investment in contactless payments to provide
merchants of all sizes – from international chains to individual shop
owners and street vendors – a fast, secure and inexpensive way to accept
payments.
Bankers in Nigeria are already reacting to the new feature.
“In
line with our goal to serve 100 million Africans by the end of 2020,
Ecobank is delighted to collaborate with Facebook and Mastercard to
enable underserved and unbanked micro-merchants with the opportunity to
open an Ecobank account almost immediately and begin to receive instant
payments using Ecobank Masterpass QR on the Facebook Messenger platform.
Micro merchants in Nigeria are already benefiting from Masterpass QR
and will soon be in 32 markets across Africa, enabling them to move away
from cash. That is true economic empowerment,” said Patrick Akinwuntan,
Group Executive, Consumer Bank, Ecobank Group.
“Our
Bank is partnering with Facebook and Mastercard to introduce Masterpass
QR as a means of driving financial inclusion and creating a new payment
ecosystem for MSMEs and consumers,” said Peter Amangbo, MD/CEO of Zenith
Bank Plc. “This initiative will help us encourage financial inclusion
within the country in line with the strategic thrust of the Central Bank
of Nigeria (CBN). Buyers and sellers now meet and conclude transactions
in-store, online and on social media, so we are ensuring payments can
also be made on these platforms via QR codes, without having to log onto
other solutions or even take a break from what you are doing on
Facebook.”
Press Release
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