Pretoria-based GSM mobile technology company, TruTeq Wireless has partnered with Australia’s leading bank to roll out a mobile banking platform to seven Pacific island countries.
Westpac Pacific Banking launched its first USSD-based mobile banking application in the Solomon Islands in February, with Papua New Guinea set to go live soon. Westpac Pacific plan to roll out the mobile banking platform to the rest of their Pacific portfolio countries of Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands over the coming months.
Gary Collins, head of Mobile Banking at Westpac Pacific Bank says: “We at Westpac are very excited to work with TruTeq Wireless because they bring with them over 12 years of experience, rolling out similar solutions in challenging markets in Africa.”
“Their expertise in mobile banking, mobile security, GSM and USSD combined with Westpac’s presence and footprint in the region has made it possible for Westpac to bring mobile banking to customers in the Pacific, for whom the nearest bank is often several days away by canoe or boat,” says Collins.
“TruTeq’s experience in dealing with the challenges of working in emerging markets, and their flexibility and willingness to get the job done have certainly helped Westpac move quickly in this space.”
Collins says, “Westpac is tremendously excited by the potential USSD mobile banking to bring financial inclusion and services to remote and isolated island populations scattered across many millions of square kilometers of the Pacific.”
“Like SMS, USSD has a low barrier to entry for subscribers and customers. It is intuitive, menu-driven and works across all handsets.”
“Just about every handset made in the last 10 years handles USSD sessions and menus, and all GSM handsets will at least handle basic USSD, which is why this is a popular service for top-ups and balance inquiries. It requires no special handset functionality, so customers don’t need expensive java-enabled smartphones, or pre-loaded SIM-cards.”
“From a mobile customer point of view, it is ready out the box,” says Gary Collins, Head of Mobile Banking at Westpac Bank.
TruTeq CEO Tjaart van der Walt says: “Our experience in dealing with the unique challenges of emerging markets in Africa has equipped us to work with Westpac in the Pacific, where network infrastructure and availability varies greatly across Mobile Network Operators (MNO’s) and regions.”
“In addition, our fraud-prevention technology ValiPort prevents fraud committed through SIM swapping and network porting and will also detect and prevent remote spoofing, thereby reducing the cost of transacting and bringing mobile banking within reach of everybody.”
“Asia Pacific is a key area of expansion for us and we are looking forward to meeting new customers and forming long-term business relationships.”
“Working with Westpac has shown us that there is a focus on building sustainable business in the region that resonates with the way we do business,” says Van der Walt.
“We now have customers in seven Asian Pacific countries, and having local sales, development, integration and support capabilities based in Australia we are now able to work in different time zones, which will make our wide range of products more attractive to new customers in the region.”
“This will enable us to add value and quick turnaround times to their business.”
Westpac Bank was recently ranked number one in the ‘Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World’ at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Westpac is Australia’s first company and its oldest bank. The company will celebrate the 200th anniversary of its founding in 2017.
TruTeq Wireless is a privately owned South African company that supplies over 39 GSM and CDMA network operators in 35 countries in Africa, Europe and the Pacific.
They specialise in USSD, SMS, WAP and MMS, billing, Diameter Routing (DRA) and Subscriber Location Function (SLF) as well as a quality of service (QoS) offering. TruTeq also has subscriber airtime applications, bundles, wallets and a secured USSD-based mobile banking platform that integrates into a broad range of core banking systems.
