bmobile launches Mobile Money Revolution

All bmobile customers now have the opportunity to use the new VISA prepaid card to shop locally or abroad, make online and in App purchases, top up and pay their TSTT bills and to stay on top of all these transactions with a special bmobile app on their smartphones.

To ensure this new product delivers firstclass service, secure cutting-edge technology and that it is connected to the largest network of users, TSTT has partnered with two financial giants – Republic Bank Ltd and VISA International – as well as bmobile dealer Cell Master Ltd.

At the launch ceremony held at TSTT House in Port of Spain, Senior Business Development Leader for VISA, Sofia Antor said, “The bmobile VISA Prepaid Card will provide cardholders with a convenient and innovative way to manage their spending and use the prepaid card anywhere VISA is accepted in the local and international markets at different merchant locations, online, and at ATMs worldwide.” The specially designed mobile app that is activated with the Card has a wide range of functions. For example, with this App customers can: • receive a real-time App Alert with every purchase, thus providing greater protection against fraud • see the real time available balance and most recent transactions on their card • top up their own phone • purchase top ups for friends and family and apply directly to their phones • pay blink | bmobile bills remotely Mobile money has many other applications.

www.digitalwallet.weebly.com points out, for example, that businesses and small entrepreneurs can benefit from mobile money in traditional cash-only arenas such as craft fairs and flea markets. They may also substitute for cashiers or points of sale systems.

The bmobile card also addresses the number one concern of persons who want to use their mobile phone as a digital wallet – security. According to a March 2016 report from the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System entitled Consumers and Mobile Financial Services 2016: “Despite the increasing prevalence of mobile banking and mobile payments, a significant share of consumers believes the technology to be unsafe or do not know how safe it is.” Similarly, the MEF Global Mobile Money Report 2015 found that a lack of trust was the number one barrier to greater usage of mobile devices to conduct financial transactions, with Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) CEO Rimma Perelmuter commenting that the report’s findings were a clear call to action for the industry to build trust in the mobile platform. “Whilst the consumer’s appetite to browse, buy and bank on the mobile device is becoming prevalent, the adoption of many new services is still being held back by concerns about privacy and security,” she said.

TSTT has answered that challenge with the bmobile VISA Prepaid Card.

Describing it as a “fantastic product,” Republic Bank Executive Director Derwin Howell told the audience that the bmobile card is the first Chip and Pin enabled locally issued prepaid card.

“So, along with the many features of the Card, come the high security standards to which Republic Bank customers have become accustomed,” he said.

Unlike magnetic-stripe cards, with Chip & Pin technology, every time a customer uses the bmobile VISA Prepaid Card to make a payment, the computer chip embedded in the card will create a unique transaction code that cannot be used again. Also, instead of a signature that could be forged, the chip-enabled card reader will verify a person’s personal identification number or PIN before approving a purchase.

Howell also noted that the card’s mobile app “is a first for us in this part of the world” and that “the fees, as compared with those of credit cards, are minimal.” TSTT Chairman Emile Elias had a message for the company’s competition: “Before you blink, bmobile will be way out front!” He also tantalised the audience with the promise of other pre-Christmas surprises, telling them: “Stay tuned. Lots more to come…innovations are going to be introduced that will rock the market before Christmas.”