Mi-Pay’s claim to be among the leaders
in the rapidly developing global mobile phonebased money transfer
market has received a major boost with its selection by the
International Association of Money Transfer Networks (IAMTN) as the
“Most Innovative Company in Money Transfers.”
The UK-based mobile payments services
provider received the award from the global money transfer industry
trade body at a function held in London in November. The award was
made in recognition of Mi-Pay’s agent-based domestic money transfer
solution which has allowed operator- independent services to be
deployed in challenging countries, such as Sudan.
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Also acknowledged by the IAMTN was
Mi-Pay’s work with regulators to help bring secure and reliable
mobile financial service platforms to the industry. Speaking at the
award ceremony, Leon Isaacs, MD of the IAMTN, said: “During the
past year, Mi-Pay has demonstrated tremendous innovation in both
solutions and its approach to markets.
“Its foresight and technical expertise
has enabled it to take mobile money transfer into areas that were
previously impossible; creating new opportunities for social and
economic growth and greater financial empowerment for previously
disenfranchised populations.”
Mi-Pay made its first foray into
mobile payments in September 2004 and shortly after began offering
mobile phone topup switching services. Following this first step,
Mi-Pay initiated a key strategic move in 2005 with the formation of
Digital Payments, a joint venture with payment card specialist
Retail Decisions and UK payments processor VocaLink, focused on
over-theair mobile phone top-ups. Mi-Pay went on to expand its
reach to include the Middle East and Africa, and today lays claim
to ranking among the world’s top 10 mobile money service
providers.
Mi-Pay’s global remittance strategy is
based on the reality that mobile airtime is viewed by millions of
people in developing countries as a proxy-currency. Given this,
Mi-Pay harnesses the vast number of mobile airtime vendors in
developing countries to act as a remittance agents, exchanging
airtime for cash for people who have, for example, received airtime
top-ups froma relative in another country.
