Seamless cross-border payments and remittances

Money is constantly moving - either through all kinds of payments or in the form of remittances, for the support of a loved one. Remittance and payment companies are constantly trying to offer better service to their customers to make remittances easier, faster and cheaper. The remittance industry is a complex one, as it relies on currency exchange rates as well as national regulations. Sending urgent funds to family, friends or business partners often turns out to become a lengthy process. In fact, beneficiaries of remitted funds often experience delays of several days in getting access to funds. The high transaction fees are also sometimes a barrier to senders.

In Nigeria, Africa, the remittance market is huge, but remittance senders and receivers face many inconveniences due to regulations that are more stringent than in most countries, as well as the high transaction fees charged by remittance companies.

To solve these issues, Bancore proposes a new service. It is a prepaid card from a globally accepted payment service, which offers an opportunity to send funds directly to a card in US Dollars, which in turn allows the cardholder to receive value instantly in the same currency. If the beneficiary does not already have a card on the platform, the moment funds are sent, a fully functional and virtual prepaid card will automatically be generated on the recipient's mobile phone at no cost, and funds will be deposited onto it. The beneficiary is simultaneously alerted of the card having been issued and receives a phone link to get access to the funds.

This product eliminates the difficulties associated with the Nigerian regulations, which stipulate that all USD remitted must be credited to the recipient in the same currency. In fact, the opening of a USD account with traditional banks in Nigeria can be quite daunting. Now imagine, with just a mobile number, a family member in Nigeria can instantly receive funds from abroad, in USD, and decide to either use these funds in the same currency or convert them to their local currency at their convenience, all via the card services platform. What a wonderful world! Beneficiaries will also have access to all the other value-added services that are offered on the platform, such as P2P transfers, bill payments, airtime purchases, etc.

With Mastercard, Providus bank, and GTP as the underlying processors, the security risks associated with this payment service are minimised by cutting edge technical solutions, including:

• Checkpoint Firewall

• Endpoint protection

• Web Protection

• Secured VPN connection

• Two-Factor Authentication

• PCI DSS Compliant

By bringing the option of remitting funds seamlessly to consumers, the opportunities for remittances and payment companies are endless. We expect the Nigerian remittance receivers to benefit from this new service.