Microfinance Banks Get Boost with Vending Solution

AppZone, a home-grown software solutions for the financial services industry, developed recharge vending application for Micro Finance Banks (MFBs).

The value added service has been described as having placed MFB customers on the same level as their peers who bank with commercial banks as it addresses the need for accessible and convenient banking via electronic means.

The service was rolled out recently on the ‘BankOne’ platform, which is the only platform offering the mobile banking service to MFBs in Nigeria.
BankOne is a flagship product of AppZone Limited, a Nigerian software company that was established in 2008 and has grown to become a leading provider of home-grown software solutions for the financial services industry in Africa.

AppZone’s institutional shareholders include Inventgarde, a consortium of Nigerian investors and private equity funds, and South Africa’s foremost ICT Group, Telkom.

AppZone creates disruptive solutions that expand the scope and competitiveness of institutions in the financial services industry and then delivers these solutions using agile technology and global best practices
AppZone’s Business Group Head for Retail Banking and Cloud, Mr. Adelana Adewuyi, said MFBs that signed up for the service, are assigned a unique code which can be dialed by their customers to get any denomination of airtime while the MFB, via AppZone’s BankOne platform, facilitates the automated deduction of the purchase amount from the customer’s account
He added that for convenience and easy adoption as well as for seamless customer experience, no registration app installation or configuration is required for customers to start using the mobile banking service rather. The service is available on any smartphone or feature phone currently in use.

According to Adewuyi, “to enjoy the service and for security reasons, customers must use phone lines that have been registered by their MFB to receive debit and credit alerts for transactions on their account. All that customer has to do is simply dial the specified code and the value of the top-up requested. The BankOne platform validates the customer’s number and verifies that the customer has a sufficient balance. After verification, the customer’s account is debited for the requested amount while his/her phone line is topped up instantly.”