MasterCard and Vodafone have secured a new deal that will have MasterCard powering Vodafone Egypt mobile money service, Vodafone Cash. As part of this pair up, MasterCard has moved 2 million Vodafone Cash mobile wallets on its own mobile payments network. This means that all transactions conducted using Vodafone Cash in the country will run through MasterCard’s Mobile Payment Gateway platform. This was done in collaboration with the Egyptian Banks Company. “The collaboration with Vodafone Egypt is a significant milestone in the direction of scaling Egypt’s mobile ecosystem, and affirms the interoperability concept that MasterCard introduced in the Egyptian market,” said Khalid Elgibali, Division President, Middle East and North Africa, MasterCard. “The deal will help MasterCard accelerate our cash conversion cycles and support the execution of our new consumer strategy by adding 5 million new consumers during the year. Most of all, it creates further opportunities for MasterCard to use its technology and innovation to include more unbanked Egyptians in the financial mainstream and in the process help develop the industry at large and increase economic mobility.” It also offers significant benefit to Egypt’s consumers who need easier access to financial services. “Egypt has a mobile penetration rate exceeding 100 percent, yet more than 85 percent of the country’s population lack access to formal banking products. This reflects a huge opportunity for Vodafone, the largest player in Egypt’s telecom market, to work with payments and technology industry leaders like MasterCard, harness the power of mobile technologies and bring unbanked and underbanked individuals into the formal financial sector,” said Ahmed Essam, Vodafone Egypt CEO. Also through this collaboration, MasterCard will gain access to Vodafone Egypt’s 38 million mobile subscriber base. The relationship also has the potential to encourage more consumers to join the mobile and digital payments ecosystem. Through Vodafone Cash, customers can now pay bills, top up their mobile phones, send money, deposit and withdraw cash from any ATM, transact online, send money to other mobile wallets in Egypt and make payments at the POS where merchants accept the option.
A new deal between MasterCard and visa will see MasterCard technology acquire Vodafone Cash ; Vodafone Egypt 's mobile money network . Through the partnership , all transactions using Vodafone Cash in the country will be handled by MasterCard 's Mobile Payment Gateway . The move will benefit Egyptian consumers needing easier access to financial services . Although Egypt 's mobile penetration rate is more than 100 % , more that 80 % of the population are without access to formal banking services . The collaboration will also give MasterCard access to Vodafone Egypt 's 38 million mobile subscribers and could encourage more consumers to engage with mobile and digital payment systems .