By akademiotoelektronik, 06/10/2022

Electronic payment: after Ecobank, Afriland First Bank integrates the Campost public post office platform - Business in Cameroon

(Business in Cameroon) - The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (Minpostel), Minette Libom Li Likeng, is presiding on October 22 in Yaoundé, the signing ceremony of a commercial partnership agreement between the public postal worker Cameroon Postal Services ( Campost) and the Cameroonian bank Afriland First Bank. " The signing of this agreement marks the commercial launch of code #237*001# relating to mobile payments, via the national electronic communications aggregation platform ", explains the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

According to Afriland, to benefit from this service, " the user enters a code that connects him in real time to the platform (SARA By Afriland) to manage and carry out his transactions. Unlike an SMS, there is no storage of information, the data is only available during the opening of the session and then disappears. A simple protocol that does not require an internet connection".

Also, thanks to the USSD code and regardless of the type of mobile phone the user has, regardless of their home telephone operator and without an internet connection, it is now possible for users to carry out certain operations from from their mobile: transfer of funds, payment of bills or school fees, purchase of telephone credits. This innovation also provides access to microcredits. One of the objectives, according to the bank, is to allow people to have access to financial services wherever they are, at any time and at no cost.

Before Afriland, it was the pan-African group Ecobank which signed a similar agreement last June with Campost allowing this credit institution to contribute to the democratization of access to banking services via mobile phone.

Inaugurated on March 31, 2020, the Campost platform aims in particular to guarantee fair interconnection conditions, reduce the costs of mobile financial transactions and promote financial inclusion. In addition, it allows access to mobile financial services through a unique code, # 237#.

According to an instruction from the Minpostel, network operators and electronic communications service providers in Cameroon have been invited to interconnect there by the end of December 2019 at the latest, for the provision of mobile financial services. Those who connect to this Campost platform after this date are slightly late.

Sylvain Andzongo