MANAMA: AFS, being the MEA region’s leading payment solutions provider and FinTech enabler, is committed to developing the region’s future financial landscape and supporting the shift in banking and payment technologies from physical to digital – leveraging financial technologies in shaping the future of payments.
“As such, we embrace disruption as a catalyst of change and greater opportunity. In our mission to offer innovative and end-to-end payment services and solutions, AFS partners with banks and financial institutions to modernize their products, services and business performance by introducing and embedding technology-driven payment solutions that disrupt,” B Chandrasekhar, AFS CEO told The24X7News Bahrain (www.twentyfoursevennews.com) during an exclusive interview.
“Importantly, AFS has been leading the FinTech innovation in the Middle East and Africa region. We have introduced several new products in recent months which have been very well received by our customers and partners,” B Chandrasekhar, while talking about AFS’ growth strategy to enhance its business and how to tap into new areas of potential growth.
“As the frontrunner in the digital payments industry, we have taken the lead in contributing to the financial inclusion strategy of the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The AFS Digital Payroll Solution is the pioneering, first ever digital payroll solution in Bahrain. It delivers on our aim to give more people access to digital financial products. With the rollout of AFS’ Digital Payroll Solution, which benefits both employers and employees, we took the initiative to serve the unbanked by giving them the benefits of digital money. Our solution is an integrated workflow solution enabling corporates/employers to manage and disburse employee salaries, via an online corporate portal, to AFS issued payroll cards – securely and efficiently. We also introduced the first ever cash on wheels mobile ATM van which regularly visits places of work and employee accommodation / labor camps on salary days. Employers can also request the mobile ATM van to visit specific sites at designated times. The offering is seamless, and we will soon be offering new products such as insurance and remittances. In Bahrain the solution is branded Al Rateb. The Al Rateb card is a prepaid payroll card, integrated with AFS’ Digital Payroll Solution. Salaries can be paid directly to the prepaid card which is accepted at any MasterCard ATM, PoS terminal, or E-Commerce payment gateway,” he said.
“We also pioneered and introduced state of the art android POS terminals in Bahrain and Oman with the AFS Acquiring Solution which has transformed merchant acquiring in the region. AFS’ Merchant Acquiring Business in Bahrain and Oman introduced to market the latest state-of-the-art Android-based, integrated POS (point-of-sale) terminals which support international and domestic payment schemes and FinTech payment options including contactless cards, NFC, QR, biometric, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and mobile wallets (including AFS’ mobile payments solution). AFS’ Merchant Acquiring Business includes end-to-end platform, settlement and eCommerce. Retailers who partner with AFS now have access to easier and more user-friendly acquiring solutions which include WhatsApp video call support, Android-based app technology and more. We entered into partnership with Ahli United Bank Bahrain, migrating 5,000 POS terminals to the new Android version and this has been very well received in the market. We also went live in Oman in partnership with Ahlibank Oman and Bank Sohar and this has also met with good market response.”
“The growing AFS value added services suite saw us launch a multi-lingual insurance services outbound contact center in Oman in partnership with a leading local bank and a multinational insurance company. This is the first state-of-the-art insurance contact center in Oman and boasts over 50 agents to sell insurance policies to bank customers. Separately, we have also expanded our contact center activities by signing new banks both in Bahrain and across the region. The AFS contact center now offers multilingual 24×7 service with state-of-the-art e-ticketing technology.”
“We have also recently introduced Voice Analytics as a new addition whereby customers of banks who deal with us can speak to their mobiles and get voice-prompted analytics. This is a useful tool in understanding and managing finances,” he added.
“When it comes to FinTech, AFS was one of the first to launch the FinTech conversation, propelling a regional FinTech movement. AFS was a founding partner of Bahrain FinTech Bay (the largest dedicated FinTech hub in the region) – driving the acceleration of the FinTech ecosystem in Bahrain and the Middle East. Leading the way in the Fintech sector, AFS organized the first regional Fintech forum in Bahrain – the MEA FinTech Forum – in 2017. The MEA FinTech Forum is now the region’s leading, dedicated, annual FinTech experience platform, where key FinTech players showcase their future-proof solutions, sharing valuable insights on payment trends and innovative services which will disrupt, enhance, innovate and modernize tomorrow’s businesses,” he explained.
“AFS recently formed a FinTech subsidiary, Finzo, to oversee the company’s FinTech business and ahead-of-the-curve digital payment solutions. Finzo’s scope of innovative offerings includes, but is not limited to: digital wallets, digital banking suite of services, digital payroll programs, frictionless payments, digital remittances, e-KYC, biometrics, blockchain and insurtech solutions.”
“AFS is continuing its plans to expand its geographic reach to other countries in Africa and is also investing in more innovative value-added services and products – and will continue to lead the FinTech innovation in the region.
“In 2018 AFS launched the highly successful first digital mobile wallet in Bahrain – bwallet – which is also the first financial product to be hosted on the cloud and the first product in the GCC to offer groundbreaking electronic KYC (Know Your Customer) processes for swift and efficient customer registrations.
“bwallet uses a dynamic QR code which makes it easy for customers to not only pay merchants but also conduct P2P transfers within Bahrain and, recently in 2019, we enhanced this to include international remittances to many destinations including but not limited to India, Pakistan, Philippines, Nepal, Bangladesh, Egypt and Sri Lanka. So, from the comfort of one’s home, customers can now easily transfer payments to any bwallet customer or transfer money to overseas wallets, bank accounts and even cash at pick up locations thanks to our partnership with MasterCard.”
Today, he added, bwallet is an award-winning mobile payments solution that has established itself as the market leader with a significant user and merchant footprint across Bahrain. “Also, we are expanding into other geographies with our wallet offering.”
“AFS launched eFloos – the first-of-its-kind digital wallet in the Sultanate of Oman. The digital mobile wallet empowers smartphone users with the facility to make QR based payments to merchants, add, send and receive funds to and from other wallets, thereby expanding the application of e-payment facilities in Oman.
“Launching bwallet in Bahrain and efloos in Oman, we injected first-of-their-kind, agile, scalable, feature-rich wallet platforms into financial ecosystems. Mobile wallets are now becoming the go-to payment source for consumers and our aim is to create an ecosystem across the region where such mobile wallets are interoperable.”
