Mobile banking service company TagPay, has secured a one million dollar investment from Société Générale which in return got 8% stake in the company.
The alliance formed by Société Générale and TagPay aims at facilitating the bank’s expansion while at the same time being closer to their clients. Alexandre Maymat of Société Générale said that adopting a mobile banking system was a necessary step to further their business in the continent as infrastructure costs are rising and the local population is getting more tech-savvy.
TagPay was launched in in 2005 and it allows anyone, regardless where they live, to check balance statements, transfer money and pay bills simply with their phone. The three main advantages of this mobile banking service are that it uses cloud computing technology but most of all that it can be used on all phone devices regardless of the phone operator. This is an important detail as the median smartphone use in Africa is 15% of the population whereas the median for other mobile device use on the continent represents 65% of the population.
