MoreMagic to provide the new Haitian mcommerce plan

After a nine-month pilot testing mcommerce solutions in Haiti, officials have decided to unleash the program nationwide, and will use MoreMagic to provide the service. MoreMagic is a mcommerce and mobile financial services provider. The service, which was initially launched by Voila and Unibank, will be the first of its variety on the island nation.

The installation will be fueled by MoreMagic's T-Cash program, a mobile appllication that will bring financial services to citizens in a country that has lacked stable financial institutions for much of its history. This will allow hundreds of thousands of citizens to deploy mobile wallet solutions to make purchases, person to person money transfers, receive payments and pay bills. Upon receiving a mobile payment, users can transfer the electronic funds into actual cash to purchase goods not sold through the system.

"[MoreMagic's] experience in other developing markets with mobile banking and their deep understanding of our needs, coupled with a very secure and yet flexible technology platform, enabled us to launch this service within two months of the earthquake last January as a pilot and go fully commercial after nine months," said Robin Padberg, CEO of Voila.

According to Pankaj Gulati, CEO of MoreMagic, the mcommerce program began in Haiti last year when the service empowered 15,000 foot soldiers to generate income by reselling goods through mobile devices costing less than $10. By using T-Cash, Gulati explained, Voila skipped the process of experimenting with legacy programs and immediately created a state-of-the-art mcommerce system to spur economic recovery by providing financial services to Haiti's citizens. In order to achieve this success, T-Cash creates strong lines of collaboration between banks, mobile operators and relief organizations, Gulati explained.

In a report analyzing commentary from the recent Cartes & Identification Conference, US Banker said economic recovery is driving payments innovation because businesses and financial institutions were reticent to adopt new commercial, banking and payment applications during the recession. However, the report said some regions were not limited by economic struggles and others are already showing signs of recovery and rebuilding. As a result, US Banker anticipates significant changes in the mcommerce industry with businesses working to deploy contactless payment methods, such as near field communications, on a large scale. Philippe Tartavull, CEO of terminal maker Hypercom, told the news source the economic crisis is essentially over and businesses will begin to provide innovative systems for payment growth.