Banque Populaire de Mauritanie Taps Comviva to Launch Bankily

Banque Populaire de Mauritanie (BPM), one of the leading banks in Mauritania has launched a state-of-the-art mobile banking service called Bankily earlier this year.

The service has received a positive response from consumers. With banking penetration around 30%, Bankily is helping to modernize banking and payments in Mauritania and encouraging financial inclusion in the country. Bankily is powered by Comviva’s mobiquity® Banking Suite.

Bankily brings a digital revolution in the banking industry of Mauritania by enabling people to open and manage bank account, transfer money and make payments using mobile phones. The service is accessible using all mobile phones, smartphone or basic, via the Bankily mobile app or USSD code *888# for Mattel subscribers.

Consumers can open a bank account remotely by downloading the Bankily app from Google Play Store or Apple App Store or by dialling the USSD code and registering using the 10 digit national identification number (NNI) available on national identity card or residence permit. Opening the Bankily account is free and it has no account maintenance fee as well. Bankily users can deposit money into and withdraw money from Bankily account through Bankily agents, BPM Bank branches and BPM ATM spread across Mauritania. With Bankily, users can easily and instantly do host of financial transactions digitally including transferring money, paying electricity and water bills, buying phone credit, paying merchant, crowd-funding (mobile tontine), ordering a cheque book and bank card, checking account balance, and generating an account statement.

Bankily is an inclusive service. Bankily users can not only transfer money to other Bankily users, BPM bank accounts and other bank accounts in Mauritania, but they can also send money to non-Bankily unbanked consumers using the recipient’s mobile number. Bankily offers diverse ways to make money transfer - using recipient’s mobile number, or selecting recipient from Facebook contact list, or via contactless payments using NFC and QR Code. The recipients receive a notification or message with a transaction code. Non-Bankily users can withdraw the money transfer in cash using the transaction code at Bankily agents, BPM bank branches or BPM ATMs.

Bankily has been designed with complete focus on customers. For example, after first electricity and water bill payment, users are automatically notified about their next invoice. In case of financial emergency, users can request money from their family and friends and instantly receive money once approved by the sender. To enable wider service access, BPM has created extensive Bankily agent network aimed at facilitating last mile transactions such as deposits and withdrawals. Moreover, to boost digital payments at merchants via Bankily, BPM has registered multiple merchants from diverse categories such as supermarkets, grocery stores, pharmacies, fuel stations, travel agencies, hospitals, schools and restaurants. Payments at merchants can be made by scanning the QR Code or entering the merchant code in the mobile phone.

Elaborating on Bankily, Mohamed M'Rabih Rabou, Chief, Digital Banking Services at Banque Populaire de Mauritanie said “Through Bankily, BPM aims to extend financial inclusion and banking penetration in Mauritania. The product aims to make the opening of a bank account accessible to all Mauritanian citizens regardless of their geographic location and purchasing power. This mobile banking service, fully supports the measures undertaken by the Central Bank of Mauritania to modernization and digitize the means of payments in the country. We are happy to partner with Comviva for offering Bankily service and meet the financial aspirations of our customers.”

Srinivas Nidugondi, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Mobile Financial Solutions, Comviva said “Digital technology is transforming the banking industry and Comviva is enabling this transformation for banks and financial institutions globally. In Mauritania, we are carrying forward this digital revolution with BPM through the Bankily service, delivering quick, convenient and secure digital banking and payment services to Mauritanians.”

Banque Populaire de Mauritanie (BPM) is one of the largest banks in Mauritania. BPM offers individuals, professionals and businesses an innovative range of banking products and services ranging from deposits to loans. It has built a dense network of branches covering most of the major cities in the country. The BPM aims to meet the needs and expectations of its customers by offering innovative and quality banking products and services.

Comviva’s mobiquity® Banking suite is a comprehensive digital banking and payments solution for banks and financial institutions, to build, manage, optimize and deliver the omni-channel banking experience, as well as continuously iterate and engage the consumers, through instant configuration capability, personalization and experimentation engine. This empowers banks to deliver a hyper-personalized experience, thereby enhancing the customer’s value, and, subsequently, profitably transition to the digital age. Moreover, the product also delivers seamless, swift and secure digital payments to the customers, by facilitating prepaid wallet and leveraging technologies such as HCE, tokenization and QR Code.