Attijariwafa & UnionPay
Morocco’s largest bank Attijariwafa signed a deal with UnionPay International for complete ATM acceptance within the bank’s network. The move will see the local ATM acceptance of UnionPay cards soar to 40%.
Ingenico Announces Latest Client
Ingenico announced the opening of a new branch office in Morocco. This new office is part of the company’s geographic expansion strategy which seeks to closely answer customers and partners needs to optimize its level of service on each continent. Ingenico will continue to deliver more advanced and innovative solutions answering needs of all types of customers, such as banks, micro finance institutions, retailers, ID & Gov, vertical market and PSP’s.
Casablanca Contactless Cards
ASK SA is proud to announce that the company is now a supplier of M’Dina bus, the official transportation operator for the city of Casablanca, Morocco. ASK has been selected by M2M, to deliver the contactless cards for Casablanca’s new bus network. M’Dina Bus decided to choose ASK to upgrade its system and to offer a more convenient and versatile way of transportation. Based on CD 21 chip, the smart cards have been provided to the users of M’Dina network. Today M’dina bus provides more than 1.5 million of travels a day thanks to its numerous and efficient lines.
MasterCard Inks M2M SPS Principal Member
Global payments and technology company MasterCard announced the appointment of M2M SPS, a leading provider of secure e-transaction processing solutions as its Principal Member in Morocco. As a new Principal Member of MasterCard, M2M SPS will be enabling its customers to leverage MasterCard’s acquiring and issuing capabilities across several merchants and e-commerce channels, backed by MasterCard’s support with a suite of advanced value-added services, technical support, training, and new payment platforms. With this enhanced collaboration, MasterCard’s point of sale will significantly increase across Morocco, thereby allowing more consumers to access MasterCard’s global payments network.
Earthport Announces New Payment Route
Earthport cross-border payments service provider deployed its fully automated payment service, offering first low value payment service route for Earthport in North Africa. Allowing Earthport to expand its network infrastructure into the region. Clients will be able to benefit from more competitive and transparent payments services, while leveraging Earthport’s local clearing capabilities to offer more cost efficient, low-value payments. Among the top remittance destinations on the African continent and the second largest remittance country in North Africa with an estimated $6.4 billion worth of payments received in 2010, the expansion into the region is in response to the growing demand for low-cost payments into the region.
MoneyGram Hits 20,000 Agent Milestone
MoneyGram global money transferhas crossed the 20,000 agent location milestone in Africa and is opening a new office in Casablanca, which will initially house ten MoneyGram employees. MoneyGram has been in Morocco since 1998. In June 2011, the company opened its Casablanca office dedicated to taking care of its nine agents in Morocco and those in North Africa and West Francophone Africa to provide MoneyGram products and services for customers across the region. MoneyGram announced the addition of First National Bank in South Africa, an addition that doubled the company’s agent network in South Africa to 1,000 locations, before adding 600 locations in Nigeria.
UAE Exchange Partners Western Union
UAE Exchange remittance and foreign exchange brand with a presence in five continents, has strengthened its ties with Western Union, a leader in global payments services to extend joint operations in Morocco. UAE Exchange is already a leading agent for Western Union in the Middle East. The aim of being the trusted neighbourhood brand has motivated UAE Exchange to build the world’s largest network in its class with over 650 direct offices in 30 countries across five continents in a span of over three decades, providing a wide range of financial services under one roof.
Mobile remittance service Connects 2 Countries
A new remittance corridor has been launched connecting Morocco to Belgium as part of an initiative by Wafacash – a subsidiary of the Attijariwafa Bank Group – and MFS provider BICS, a part of the Belgacom Group. Now people living in Belgium will be able to use their mobile phones to remit money instantly and cost effectively to their relatives and friends anywhere in Morocco, where they can collect the money at one of the 500 agent locations of Wafacash. The remittance transactions to the agents are facilitated through the HomeSend remittance hub, and as well as the Allo Cash platform.
Wafacash and BICS launch remittance corridor
Wafacashinternational money transfers and BICS Voice, Messaging, Roaming, Connectivity and Mobile Financial Services launched a new remittance corridor between Belgium and Morocco. Now people living in Belgium will be able to use their mobile phones to remit money instantly and cost effectively to their relatives and friends anywhere in Morocco, where they can collect the money at one of the 500 agent locations of Wafacash. The remittance transactions to the 500 agents of Wafacash are facilitated through the HomeSend remittance hub, and Wafacash’ “Allo Cash” platform, the distribution service to allow the distribution of remittance transactions.
Visa Talks business on e-payments industry
Visa shared the latest business updates within the e-payment industry with business and finance editors through the Visa Morocco, Central and West Africa GM, addressing the recent developments of Visa’s operations in e-commerce and e-payments. Throughout the Country, the total number of circulated cards increased by 3.9% over the first quarter of 2011 to more than 7.3 million cards, making the total value of card payments exceed MAD1.7 billion, jumping over 25%, while holders conducted over 39 million transactions while the value of these transactions increased by over 23% amounting to more than MAD33 billion. Moreover, the number of ATMs increased over the same period by 3.4% to reach 4,700 ATMs. The report also said that using credit and/or debit cards is the most accepted method of payment with 63% of the analyzed 102 portals using it.
MoneyGram Expands Through Al Barid Bank Agreements
MoneyGram International partnered with Al Barid Bank to adding 1,800 locations. With this, Al Barid Bank becomes MoneyGram’s largest agent in Morocco MoneyGram’s service is currently being rolled out by region with all locations to be active by the end of August. With the addition of these branches, MoneyGram will count more than 5,000 agent locations in Morocco. MoneyGram has been in Morocco since 1998 and recently opened an office in Casablanca dedicated to taking care of its 10 agent partners in Morocco and those in North Africa and West Francophone Africa as well as ensuring a great product for the customer across the region.
MONEYGRAM EXPANDS
MoneyGram International has signed three new agents in Morocco that will offer money transfer services under the MoneyGram name. These agents are Credit Immobilier et Hotelier (CIH), MEA Finance / Canal M and WafaCash. Credit Immobilier et Hotelier, a mortgage lender, will broaden it services to offer money transfer in 150 locations and will introduce MoneyGram to a new set of customers. MEA Finance / Canal M, an experienced money transfer service provider with branches in immigrant neighborhoods, brings 100 locations to the network and WafaCash, a local bank, will strengthen MoneyGram’s network by adding 400 new agent locations across the country. With these new additions, MoneyGram has 2,022 agent locations in Morocco.