Equity Bank issues smart SIM powered by Taisys Technologies to provide mBanking and mobile communication services
By Nixon Kanali
Equity Bank customers can now enjoy funds transfer, micro-payments and other mobile financial services that are agnostic across mobile devices, including traditional basic-feature phones using Taisys’s “mBanking” and “duoSIM”
This announcement Today was made on Tuesday by Taisys Technologies Co. The company said Equity Bank will be issuing ultra-thin mobile banking smart SIM with patented technology from Taisys. . The technology also allows the bank to extend to customers mobile telecommunication services approved by Communications Authority of Kenya.
With Taisys’s patented ultra-thin smart SIM – duoSIM – can be directly attached the surface of an existing telco-issued SIM, and placed into the mobile device. Taisys’s duoSIM can then be used to execute mobile banking transactions, releasing the bank from the limitations of a telco-issued banking SIM.
Taisys’s said the unique nature of Kenya’s financial market provided the ideal environment for the rapid growth of mobile micropayment provider M-Pesa and Equity Bank is determined to challenge the M-Pesa’s monopoly in this area.
By adopting duoSIM technology, Equity Bank will be able to provide an alternative mobile banking and mobile money solution to consumers.
Speaking during this announcement, Taisys CEO, Jason Ho expresses great optimism in Kenya’s market potential.
“With a population of 40 million, and 14 million mobile money users, Kenya is a mature market with users familiar with mobile financial services. Taisys sees this as a great impetus for growth in mobile banking,” he says.He also said that Taisys’s collaboration with Equity Bank as a strategic partnership to expand the offering of mobile banking services, and providing such services to a wider population in Kenya.
Having successfully secured a license to be a mobile virtual network operator, Equity Bank becomes the first financial services institution in Kenya that is also licensed to provide telecommunication services.
