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| INTERSWITCH APPOINTS INDEPENDENT SERVICE ORGANISATIONS TO DEPLOY POINT OF SALE TERMINALS NATIONWIDE |
InterSwitch limited, Nigeria’s premier
and leading Transaction Switching and E-Payments
Processing company yesterday announced the appointment
of Independent Service Organizations (ISO) for
the rapid deployment of Electronic funds transfer
at the Point-of-Sale (EFTPOS) terminals
all over Nigeria.
The appointment was sequel to the responses to an advertorial in two national dailies placed by InterSwitch Limited calling for applications from registered companies based in Nigeria to partner with it in its drive to make Nigeria a less-cash society. Of the thirteen companies that applied, nine (9) of them have fully met all the requirements. The nine ISOs that are now fully certified are Caplink, Capital Partners Financial Products, Ecco Solutions, Electronic PayPlus, ETopNG, Paycycle, PayMaster, PayStream and SWAP.
The ISOs (working in consonance with acquiring banks on the InterSwitch Nework) will deploy online Point of Sale terminal (POS) to all merchant locations where payments are made and received. They will also train the merchant’s employees on the use of the POS terminal and other support services as may be required from time to time by the merchant. InterSwitch will carry out transaction routing and processing, effect reporting and settlement to all transacting parties and provide Call Center/ Helpdesk Support as well as status information on all POS terminals connected to the switch.
According to Mr. Mitchell Elegbe
(MD of InterSwitch), partnering with Nigerian
ISOs to add value to merchants via the deployment
of the POS terminals is in the spirit of NEEDS
(National Economic Empowerment and Development
Strategy). It is also a aimed at ensuring
the company delivers on its promise to create
a multichannel transaction switching and processing
superswitch that solves real-life challenges.
The decision to work with ISOs is a deliberate
strategy to rapidly move Nigeria away from a
cash-based economy to a card-based nation. When
we commenced operation in December 2002, one
of our objectives was to deploy a national transaction
switching and processing infrastructure that
will support automated customer transactions
from multiple payment and transaction channels
such as ATMs, POS, Mobile, Internet etc. |
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These objectives we have realized
with over 500 live ATMs doing inter-bank transaction
in all the 36 states across Nigeria including the
Federal Capital Territory. Today, Mbanking is live
on GloMobile network. Government parastatals
and private organizations now perform online collections,
monitoring and remittances of payments via PCs and
the Internet. In addition, true electronic commerce
allowing Nigerians to pay on the Internet using their
Nigeria Debit Cards is now a reality in Nigeria.
Mr. Elegbe further said that the strength
of InterSwitch lies in transaction switching and payment
processing. The company has an abundance mentality
as far as E-payments is concerned and this has influenced
its partnering with organizations like ATMC Limited
and the banks for ATM deployment, NIBSS for Interbank
Settlement, Cards Technology Limited for MasterCard
Processing and now the ISO’s for POS deployment.
He also said discussions with Valucard is at advanced
stages for Visa processing also.
Speaking on behalf of the ISOs, Mr Bayo Adeokun, Managing
Director of Electronic PayPlus said “…
we are excited by the opportunity presented by this
partnership and the potential it offers to Nigeria’s
economy. InterSwitch's vision for the payment
space in Nigeria is in line with ours and we welcome
the opportunity to partner to contribute our quota
towards making Nigeria a less-cash economy.”
InterSwitch provides interfaces to point of sale terminals,
card readers, automated teller machines, web browsers,
mobile phones, personal digital assistants and other
touch point devices linking enterprises to their customers.
We take the integrity and security of the financial
data we process very seriously. It is, and always
has been, a constant consideration in everything we
do and every product we release” says the Group
Head, Service Delivery Group at InterSwitch, Mr. Akeem
Lawal.
Our mission is to act as a catalyst in positioning
Nigeria as a regional financial and economic hub by
operating a secure, value-driven regional payment
infrastructure that facilitates the electronic circulation
of money on a timely and continuous basis.
InterSwitch and the certified ISOs
plan to deploy 50,000 terminals across the country over
the next 3years.
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