Tekedia was invited to Interswitch TechConnect last week as the pan-African digital payment and commerce solution pioneer launched an array of products, to simplify digital payments and provide more secure payment solutions to financial institutions, SMEs, merchants and their customers. The event was held at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. Interswitch has generously supported Tekedia Institute, funding innovators to our programs; we thank the fintech giant for its partnership.
As I have written, security, privacy and trust will drive the next phase of paytech penetration in Africa. Companies which deepen capabilities in those domains will win more territories and markets. During the launch, Interswitch announced the following:
- Enhanced biometrics feature for Point of Sale (PoS) terminals & Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) with interoperability among banks.
- Tokenization, replacing sensitive data such as the 16-digit account information with a unique digital identifier known as a token
- Card Fusion, with the services addressing digital payment fraud, problems with card issuance and portfolio management.
This is the application utility era in Africa, and more sectors will move digital. Providing secure payment infrastructures and systems will be catalytic for that redesign. Why? At the heart of the entrepreneurial cambrian moment, payment will remain the operating system since everyone will like to be paid, securely.
— The Press Release
Pan-African digital payment and commerce solution company, Interswitch Group, today launched an array of innovative product offerings expected to boost the payment industry in Nigeria. The new products will simplify digital payments and provide more secure payment solutions to financial institutions, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), merchants and their customers. The launch event, Interswitch TechConnect, was held at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The services unveiled include an enhanced Biometrics feature for Point of Sale (PoS) terminals & Automated Teller Machines (ATMs); Tokenization, and Card Fusion, with the services addressing digital payment fraud, problems with card issuance and portfolio management.
Interswitch, in collaboration with SterlingPRO, designed the Biometrics on Point of Sale (PoS) and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to protect customers against digital payment fraud and to avail them faster and more convenient ways to validate payments. The solution utilizes physiological features unique to everyone such as fingerprints, voice, and facial features to verify payment transactions.
Tokenization on the other hand replaces sensitive data such as the 16-digit account information with a unique digital identifier known as a token. Tokenization will enable merchants fast-track and collect payment seamlessly, enabling customers check out faster in-store, in-app and online.
In addition, Card Fusion is a web-based instant card issuance platform that enables banks to conclude new card production requests and issue cards within a very short time, thus enhancing their customers’ experience while customers get to personalize their cards instantly.
With the launch of these three offerings, customers can now carry out transactions faster and are assured of more secure payment platforms, while banks, merchants and business owners can fast-track and collect payments seamlessly.
Akeem Lawal, the Managing Director, Payment Processing & Switching (Interswitch Purepay), stated that the company will continue to build cutting-edge solutions to enhance business development and provide seamless payment solutions to customers across the African continent.
He noted that the three services were designed to address prevailing issues within the digital payment value chain.
He said, “Interswitch is redefining the payment landscape in Nigeria, therefore we are committed to enabling the payment ecosystem that will drive the growth of businesses for economic prosperity. We designed the Biometrics on POS & ATM to heighten customers’ protection from digital payment fraud. Although this solution exists in silos where account holders can verify their identity within their financial institution’s ecosystem, the Interswitch Biometrics on POS & ATM service will enable different banks’ customers access their data and carry out payment transactions across various ATMs and PoS terminals.”
“Our solutions have the capacity to be interoperable and scalable. With the Interswitch Biometric on PoS and ATM service, the Tokenization solution and Card Fusion services, payment service providers; acquirers, issuers and merchants can assure their customers of an added layer of security while carrying out a payment transaction.”
Lawal added “For the last 20 years, Interswitch has been at the forefront of developing innovative and cutting-edge solutions to accelerate the growth of businesses across the African continent. We are very confident that these new products will further transform the payment landscape.”
The launch event had in attendance tech and finance experts, regulators, and captains of industry amongst others.
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