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The LPB, with the assistance of the Millennium
Challenge Account- Lesotho is embarking on a
project to modernise its delivery of products
and services to the customers and expand the
outreach of financial services to the un-banked
and under-banked Basotho. To achieve this
objective, the LPB will be implementing an
Electronic Transaction Platform (ETP) which will
include amongst many applications, Point of Sale
(POS) terminals and Smartcards.
A Smartcard is a card with microprocessor chip
embedded in it. It has more storage space than
the traditional magnetic stripe cards, which
allows for multiple applications to be hosted on
the card. LPB will use these cards for
electronic payments by creating an electronic
purse (e-purse), where money will be stored into
the chip from which transactions will be done. A
familiar micro-processing chip is found in
cellular phone SIM cards which stores airtime.
With the introduction of a smartcard, the LPB
will be positioned to deliver more sophisticated
banking services to the un-banked and enable
them to be active participants in the modern
Electronic Commerce (E-commerce) economy.
Those customers who will operate pre-paid
smartcards will need not necessarily open
savings bank accounts. However, LPB will ensure
the card holders are properly identified to meet
the Know Your Client (KYC) guidelines. Every
card holder will be properly registered, which
will include biometric capturing of finger
prints encoded onto the card.
The pre-paid smartcard has advantages that
should also appeal to the banked clients:-
• Availability:
There are no credit checks, which means you can get a card without
worrying about your credit history. The LPB will
simply have
to verify your identity and confirm you are who you say you are.
• Control:
Prepaid cards are an ideal way to monitor your expenses. Like a bank
statement, you can get full transaction listing
that details
how much was spent where and when.
• No debt risk:
With a prepaid card you spend what you have on the card. When the value
is run down to zero, you stop spending until
money is
loaded again.
• Flexibility
With the conformity to EMV standards, the cardholder will be able to use
it at ATMs worldwide in the future, once the LPB
systems are fully integrated to the Automated Clearing House. |
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