Dubai: There are so many opportunities in the region that the biggest challenge is what to do next in the financial services sector, said Fiona Duncan, head of prepaid for the Central Europe, Middle East and Africa region at Visa.
“We haven’t tipped the customer base and we haven’t tipped the commercial or corporate base. So there are plenty of opportunities for growth,” she said.
A prepaid card is an account and a platform, which can be on the smartphone or a plastic card. Near Field communications (NFC) allows smartphones or other devices to communicate with one another within a distance of several centimetres by swiping their phones over NFC readers. While NFC is on the agenda, “we don’t have the infrastructure developed”, Duncan said.
And even though mobile wallets are available, she said, the volume and value of transactions through the mobile wallet are not as high as those through cards.
The mobile wallet will grow when the infrastructure allows it, she said.
Telecom operators can play a “key role in the payments business” as they have the customers’ data.
She said that one of the challenges for the telcos is the expertise required in the payments business.
“The more we work with the telcos, the quicker [we get] in the more and efficient payments solutions [sector].”
In some places, such as some areas in Africa, prepaid cards are available on smartphones.
Visa is expected to launch the service in the Gulf as well.
