Union Bank Money – Mobile Payment Services Powered by Nokia

Union Bank of India (UBI) together with Nokia, announced the commercial launch of ‘Union Bank Money powered by Nokia’ across India, starting with the National Capital Region.

The service is already available to consumers in Gurgaon, and will be soon go live in Delhi, Faridabad and Noida. This will be followed by a nationwide roll-out over the next few months.

The unique service specifically targets users, who do not have a bank account today, by providing access to financial services through their mobile phones and driving financial inclusion.

The service will enable consumers to transfer money to other individuals, withdraw cash from Business Correspondents cash-out outlets (registered Nokia stores) and ATMs, pay utility bills as well as recharge prepaid SIM cards (top-ups) by using their mobile devices, eliminating the need for intermediaries and delivering true convenience.

Today, it is estimated that more than 50% of Indians do not have access to a bank account, and it is further estimated that 90% of the 600,000 plus villages in the country do not have a bank branch. UBI, one of the pioneer banks in the Mobile Payments space, along with Nokia; has put in action its Financial Inclusion plan to bring banking services to over 10 million customers across 32,000 villages by 2013.

Nokia will supplement the existing 3000 UBI branches across the country with its unparalleled network of retail outlets spread across the country. Nokia retail outlets will serve as Business Correspondent agents for Union Bank Money services, in compliance with RBI guidelines. Prospective customers can register for the service, deposit money, or withdraw cash from their accounts at these BC agents.

‘Union Bank Money powered by Nokia’ operates across all handsets in India. Making the service ubiquitous, highly accessible and user-friendly, Nokia is pre-installing the application in a wide range of Nokia mobile handsets across price points. The application can also be installed nearly on all already existing Nokia handsets in the country.