• Published on 16 September 2016
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Global organizations join the Mojaloop Foundation to advance financial inclusion

 The Mojaloop Foundation announced that India’s leading digital payments platform PhonePe and enterprise blockchain solution provider Ripple have joined as Sponsor members, the highest level of the organization. In their role as Sponsor members, they will join the Mojaloop Foundation Board of Directors and help provide the strategic vision, governance, and technical guidance to ensure the long-term health and growth of the Mojaloop open source software and development community.

The Mojaloop Foundation also welcomed new Promoter members to support the advancement of Mojaloop, including: Giori Digital SA, a Swiss company providing central banks with a unique digital banknote form of retail Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to drive greater access to safe currency for the underserved; and Sybrin, a leading global provider of payment solutions, financial services solutions, and a low-code development platform for digital transformation.

To achieve universal financial inclusion, digital financial services need to be affordable and accessible to all. Despite mobile money services emerging in nearly 100 countries, 1.7 billion people still lack access to digital financial services, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex. Many payment providers struggle with the high cost of creating no-fee or low-fee, cross border payment systems that interoperate with others. The Mojaloop Foundation’s newest members will support the advancement of Mojaloop as a public good, enabling different types of digital financial service providers – large and small – to use the open source blueprint to help lower the cost and technical hurdles involved in creating interoperable payment models that serve all.

“Mojaloop Foundation’s financial inclusion mission has resonated loudly with many organizations. We are very pleased to welcome our newest members, including PhonePe and Ripple as Sponsor members, and Giori Digital and Sybrin as Promoter members,” said Paula Hunter, executive director of the Mojaloop Foundation. “We continue to advance and support Mojaloop open source software, collaborate with our community and hold convenings to serve as a path forward for organizations creating interoperable payments platforms to connect all digital financial providers and customers within an economy. We welcome any organization that has an interest in advancing digital financial inclusion to join the organization.”

With the support of Mojaloop Foundation Sponsor and Promoter members, Mojaloop open source software will serve as a model for how to simplify and reduce the cost of payment interoperability. If more payment models were interoperable, more banks and other digital payment providers could develop digital financial services that meet the needs of emerging markets and the unbanked. According to McKinsey Global Institute, if widely adopted, interoperable digital financial services could provide more of the population with access to important financial tools, while adding $3.7 trillion to emerging countries’ GDP by 2025.

“Our vision of universal financial inclusion is a world where everyone, everywhere, can access and use the digital financial services they need to build economic security and resilience,” said Kosta Peric, chair of the Mojaloop Foundation and deputy director of the Financial Services for the Poor program at the Gates Foundation. “The work of the Mojaloop open source project will thrive with the talent, innovation and leadership from this dynamic and growing group of member organizations, in service of our shared mission to benefit underserved and low-income communities.”

PhonePe, which means “on the phone” in Hindi, is a leading digital payments firm in India. PhonePe CEO Sameer Nigam will serve on the Mojaloop Foundation’s Board of Directors.

“If we want to make the world a more financially inclusive place, we need to work together, as institutions, governments and technology companies, to make payment systems interoperable,” said Sameer Nigam, CEO of PhonePe. “We are looking forward to collaborating with our fellow members to advance Mojaloop’s mission of financial inclusion. Together, we can help organizations understand how to build interoperable digital payment systems, provide low-cost access and feel confident in creating systems that work across borders.”

Ripple’s corporate social impact program, Ripple for Good, is designed to support mission-driven organizations to dramatically expand the number of people who fully and equitably participate in the global financial system. Ripple’s Head of Social Impact Ken Weber will serve on the Mojaloop Foundation’s Board of Directors.

“Creating economic fairness and opportunity for the unbanked and vulnerable populations is Ripple’s highest social impact priority—a natural extension of Ripple’s core business, which is making cross-border payments faster, cheaper and more reliable and accessible for hundreds of millions of consumers and businesses globally,” said Ken Weber, head of Social Impact, Ripple. “Ripple has been involved with the Mojaloop project since the start, providing technical advice and engineering support and are proud to continue to collaborate with fellow Mojaloop Sponsor members in working toward a more inclusive future where everyone, everywhere can access digital financial services needed to connect to the global economy.”

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker