MCB Bank and Nokia Finland have teamed up to revamp mobile banking in Pakistan. MCB has signed an agreement with mobile handset giant, Nokia, for the development and extension of financial services to millions of mobile phone users. This is the first time that a leading financial institution has partnered with a handset manufacturer and mobile solutions company to offer low cost financial services.
MCB Bank and Nokia signed an agreement at MCB House on Monday. Speaking at the agreement signing ceremony, MCB Bank President M U A Usmani said, “MCB and Nokia have forged a complex cross industry partnership. The deal will see both the development and extension of the next generation of low-cost banking products and services targetted at millions of mobile phone users in Pakistan.
This is the first time that a leading financial institution has partnered with a global leader in handset manufacturing to offer innovative and transformative payment solutions and services.” He said that MCB Bank had a proven track record of taking mobile financial services to market and had developed an understanding of customers’ financial needs.
Nokia would enable MCB-mobile money customers to not only have compelling user experiences on Nokia handsets right out of the box through a pre-loaded money client, but also by making available downloadable ‘Money’ clients for MCB branchless banking customers. MCB Bank SEVP and Consumer Banking Head Ali Mubashir Kazmi pointed out that MCB was the first bank in the country that introduced mobile banking in Pakistan.
Currently MCB’s mobile banking network handles some 3.5 million transactions worth Rs7 billion per annum. He pointed out that the country had some 20-25 million banking consumers, while mobile phone users were touching the 100 million mark. MCB had joined hands with Nokia to extend banking and payment services to a largely underserved segment of society.
