Don’t just go cashless, go cardless as Verve launches new mobile app
Verve World. That’s the name of the mobile application that is poised to change the face of making payments in Nigeria.
Leading African payment card brand, Verve International launched the app at an event held recently in Lagos.
The app allows for the storage of payment instruments from all major card brands in Nigeria including debit, credit, and prepaid cards; Verve eCash, and even bank accounts.
It also features Verve’s latest innovation, Paycode, a unique one-time code valid for 24 hours, which can be used to withdraw cash from an ATM machine without a card. The paycode, which can generated using the app, can also be sent to a loved one or friend to withdraw a pre-set amount of money from most ATMs in the country.
Verve International CEO, Charles Ifedi told stakeholders that the Verve World app is tailored specifically for the African market.
“We continue to see growing demand from our cardholders for easy, secure and convenient payment methods irrespective of the payment instrument being used.
“Therefore we designed the app to address the need for urgent access to cash without a card, through Verve Paycode, (a key feature in the APP) which can also be generated and sent to friends and family for cardless withdrawal at ATMs.
“Verve Paycode can also be generated via USSD channel, using any phone including feature phones, by simply dialing *322*8*amount#. We believe that the technology this app offers will revolutionize how we manage our money.”
Presently, cardless transactions can be initiated on ATMs enabled with ‘Quickteller Cardless’. Fidelity Bank, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Heritage Bank, Zenith bank, FCMB and GTBank have all upgraded their ATMs with this functionality.
ATMs belonging to UBA, Sterling Bank, Access Bank, Skye Bank, Unity Bank, Ecobank and WEMA Bank are being upgraded and would have the service available in a few weeks.
As such, there are currently over 5,000 ATMs across Nigeria where Verve Paycode can be used, and this would rise to over 11,000 ATMs by the end of 2015, when the upgrades for the above listed banks would have been completed.
The service is also being extended to enable Banks’ Mobile Banking and Internet Banking, as well as Mobile Money Operators and other stakeholders to leverage Paycode at ATMs and POS terminals.
Launched in 2009, Verve is the biggest payment card brand in Nigeria and is rapidly expanding issuance and acceptance across the African continent. Verve is currently issued in five African countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Gambia and accepted in a further 19 countries. Verve is issued by 40 banks in Africa, with more than 30 million payment tokens in circulation..
