Ecuador’s Central Bank has embarked on an ambitious course to launch an affordable and widely available mobile payment scheme. In fact, it will be the national wallet. With some uncertainty, it appears that Ecuador’s initiative may be the second central bank effort to enter this space. Seems like Jordan’s central bank was the first when launched “JoMoPay”.
The Ecuador’s central bank will be both the owner and the operator of the scheme, according to paymentsview.com. They chose a proven mobile payment platform that will lend both capability and experience to the new initiative. The vision includes building out an ecosystem that includes P2P, top-up, B2B, cash in and cash out, in-store purchases, and electronic receipts. The plan is to link the mobile payment platform with the banking platform so that mobile accounts can receive funds from and send funds to bank accounts.
The central bank doesn’t have a retail presence so it is inviting commercial entities with large networks to become “macro agents” in the distribution network. They will receive a fee for specific transaction activities.
What’s truly impressive here is the cost structure for most payments. Sending a transfer below $10 will cost $0.02, and a transfer up to $50 only costs $0.04 (all figures are USD, the official currency in Ecuador). And as the only wallet in the country, all mobile payments are interoperable.
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
