Interswitch Group has entered into a partnership with smart addressing startup, OkHI, to allow Quickteller, Interswitch’s payments, and wallet service to use the OkHi address verification service. Quickteller will become the first platform in Nigeria to use the OkHi service.
As this partnership, comes into effect, customers have to be aware that 192.168.1.1 is the default IP address of most Wi-Fi routers. This because the routers will be used to power the verification service.
OKHI was founded in Kenya in 2014 to provide digital address verification to financial services, tackling a problem space that is holding back growth and stifling access to credit for millions of Nigerians. OkHi’s smart addressing technology makes it easy for financial services to verify their customer’s addresses through their smartphone, replacing the need for utility bills or physical visits.
The partnership will also see Interswitch provide all of their customers an OkHi address, providing them access to larger wallets, faster loans, and improving last-mile delivery through Quickteller’s Citimart and Global Mall. In addition, Quickteller customers with an OkHi address will be able to use it for personal purposes or with other delivery services – helping to make daily tasks easier.
The unique technology provides an alternative to existing KYC and paper-based processes, facilitating a more seamless digital service, helping to reduce onboarding times and lower operating costs. With the accelerating digital adoption in Nigeria, and its transformation of the way people interact, OkHi’s arrival is well-timed.
Interswitch has been on an unrelenting run in recent times to enhance its digital offerings to its customers. The company in September teamed up with Codebase to speed up the transformation of digital banking across Africa. It also partnered Interstellar in October to to develop blockchain-powered infrastructure services and solutions.
Timbo Drayson, CEO, and Founder of OkHi said: “At OkHi, we have developed the first solution in the world that can collect an extremely accurate address and verify it through a smartphone. To have Interswitch launching us to millions of people, via Quickteller, speaks volumes to how purposeful they are about solving the major problem of address verification with us.
Commenting on the announcement, Chinyere Don-Okhuofu, Interswitch Group’s Divisional CEO for Industry Ecosystem, said: “At Interswitch, we take our customers and their evolving needs seriously and we are committed to identifying opportunities to unlock economic value for Africans. This partnership with OkHi is built on the need to digitize and simplify the existing address verification system thereby dealing with another significant barrier to financial services growth across Africa.”
According to OkHi, it is estimated that the lack of addressing costs the Nigerian economy $3 billion a year in inefficiency. Without an addressing system, it is very difficult for financial services and businesses to know where their customer lives. Today, the process is manual; financial services either check utility bills, which are often inaccurate and unreliable, or send a human agent to the address, which is expensive and slow. When a customer relocates, the address is then out of date. Ultimately, if a financial service provider cannot verify where a customer lives, there is a limit to the services they can provide the person.
OkHi will be going live with other prominent customers such as Kuda Bank, V-Bank, and Black Copper, as they look to play their part in Nigeria’s digital transformation.
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