Finserve: Equity’s Introduction to Financial Technology

The idea for Finserve came a few years ago, in 2016 when the model was unveiled to make business transactions seamless between African countries. It promised a hassle-free experience when sending and receiving payments from a different country. The original idea was to work with financial providers and businesses across borders to merge various payment options in the east and central Africa on one convenient payment platform.

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Conveniently being emphasized as services would be available via mobile apps and an online site. The old model of signing up for multiple or different telecoms and bank services to allow their customers to transact business across borders will be an old adage once the services come to light. Targeting the African business hubs in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, the model is ready for take-off.

Now two years later in the last quarter of the year 2018, Equity ban has launched Finserve as their subsidiary ready to take on the digital economy. The subsidiary will operate as an autonomous commercial enterprise that will deliver solutions. Not only for the Equity group but for the entire Kenyan economy. Finserve has been the technology pillar of support for Equity group which has been behind the popular innovation Equitel which is the bank’s mobile virtual network operator. (MVNO)

The goal behind Equitel is to allow the bank’s customers to manage their bank accounts from their mobile phones using the Equitel sim card. For other customers who are not using the Equitel line, they are able to connect their sim cards to their bank accounts by visiting the bank personally. Customers are also able to pay for their goods and services using Eazzy pay and also apply for instant loans using the app.

Finserve is the team behind the genius Eazzy banking that has made money lending easier than ever before directly from the bank. An app that has been functioning for years, they are leaps ahead of their competitors. This app is the definition of self-service via digital tools which enables you to perform over 60 functionalities with the app alone. For those who cannot access the app via their phones, EazzyNet has made this possible for even diaspora Kenyans to manage their bank account and access their services online via desktop.

EazzyBiz is a cash and liquidity management tool for enterprises, while their Eazzy Chama option is available for savings groups under the popular term ‘Chama’ to manage their group funds online while Eazzy save allows you to start an instant account. Clearly, there are several options that cater to the variety of customers in the country’s most populated bank, with the highest number of registered accounts.

Currently, Finserve has been able to integrate with several major global card associations such as American Express, Mastercard, Visa, JCB and union pay. This makes it the single largest aggregator of card payments in the east African region. Additionally, it is also a leader in the merchant and agency banking as mentioned above, holding the highest number of customers in the Kenyan capital. They have also gone further to integrate with global fintechs like China’s WeChat and Ali pay.

The company has also put a focus on remittance partners across the globe such as Wave, PayPal, western union, money gram and has since become the leading channel for diaspora remittances in the country. To date, many of the services have been rolled out in other east and central African countries by equity group subsidiaries in Uganda, Tanzania, the DRC. South Sudan and Rwanda.

During the launch, Finserve and Equity group CEO James Mwangi emphasized the critical role that today’s financial technology plays in democratizing the financial service provisions and inclusion for all people. Stating that Finserve will now be an independent commercial entity that will provide technology solutions. According to his speech, 97pc of all bank transactions are all carried out outside of the bank. Making it the first of its kind in Kenya.