By Emmanuel Elebeke
Intercontinental bank Plc in collaboration with Moneybox Africa limited last week launched a new technology for electronic banking tagged Moneybox.The product comes in three categories which include:

Moneybox Stored Value Account (SVA), Moneybox Quick Save and the Moneybox Account-On-The-Street. In terms of Moneybox Value Account, a rechargeable card will be made available at all branches of the banks and even on the streets which can be used in exchange for money. Using the Moneybox Quick Save, customers can save (deposit) and withdraw money from their accounts, even after banking hours while the Account On-The-Street enables customers to open account-On-The-Street(AOTS) deposit money directly into bank accounts.

The package also offers customers the opportunity of topping up phone airtime, pay utility bills , insurance and even get access to loans and make investments.

With this development, the bank said it is keying into the apex bak’s Vision 20 2020model for e-payments in Nigeria and to extend banking services to the presently under-banked, un-banked individuals and groups in Nigeria, especially those in the rural areas.

Speaking at a media parley organized for the launch, the Group managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Intercontinental bank, Mohammed Alabi said “the bank was proud to be associated with innovative electronic banking inventions after setting the pace by pioneering the development of Verve Card to secure its customers ATM/online transactions, as well as pushing the frontiers of mobile banking through its flagship e-banking products, which include VISA cards, master cards, Internet banking and Imobile among others.”

Alabi further explained that the product offers cash-like way to save, spend and transfer money through innovative savings and payment system that is based on the use of scratch cards and is compliant with any type of mobile phones from the top of the range to modest ones, adding that the initiative is expected to open the bank to high deposit and high transaction accounts of SMEs, who preferred deposit daily earnings after banking hours.

According to him, the products provide the vehicle to actualize the vision of the CBN to transform the Nigerian economy, through the application of innovative technologies, to achieve a cashless society.

He noted that what Intercontinental bank partnership with Moneybox is offering is distinct from what most banks currently trade on mobile banking, and described the partnership as the first secure mobile Money Transfer products in the Nigerian banking industry.

The bank Chief assured on the reliability of the products saying that they have secure NCC mobile money short code and also supported by the Nigeria inter-bank settlement system (NIBSS).

Another security quality of the technology is ability to deliver immediate transaction confirmations to both senders and receivers.

Managing Director of Moneybox Afric, Adeniyi Elumaro said it is all about convenience to the lives of Nigerians by making it easier for them to save money, spend money and transfer money.

Meanwhile, the bank said it had successfully carried out a product test running of the three products at the University of Lagos and will soon deploy them at all its branches nationwide.