SBTS offers e-payment system in Sierra Leone

Software services and applications provider SBTS Group is set to introduce in Sierra Leone an electronic payment network that allows for the transfer of money through the use of bank cards and other means.

The system, under the Switch Associates brand in Sierra Leone, is designed to facilitate financial transactions and settlements between banks and other institutions such as hotels and merchants, according to SBTS CEO Evelyn Lewis. Though the system is designed to work with mobile handsets and over the Internet, the bank cards will be key.

"The electronic card will have a magnetic stripe on it and would be swiped like credit cards after every transaction. The only difference with a credit card is that you can only spend your stored money, either through your account or other arrangements made by the banks for those who are not account holders," Lewis said, pointing out that banks have a major role to play in the rollout of the application. SBTS is not dealing directly with the consumers, but with the banks.

The Switch Associates network, Lewis said, will allow financial institutions in Sierra Leone to provide their cardholders with safe, extensive access to cash access points through multiple automated teller machines (ATMs) and merchant locations.

"SwitchAssociates will give you access to your money anywhere the system is available in the country," Lewis said, adding that to expand the reach of the electronic payment system, SBTS will bring about 100 ATMs into Sierra Leone.

"We plan to start deploying next month -- that is, taking the recommendations from the banks and putting necessary facilities in place -- and we know it would take some months," Lewis said.

There are now no more than 18 ATMs in Sierra Leone and less than 10 of them are functioning properly.

"After looking at why some of the ATMs in the country have not been working properly all this while, and discovered that light and maintenance are some of the problems, we plan to come with ATMs that will come with solar panels and UPS [uninterruptible power supply]," Lewis said.

The SBTS Group will be using "white-label ATMs" that will be compatible with other ATMs, since the electronic payment system is a collective effort with the country's banks, Lewis said.

Lewis did not disclose the likely cost of the equipment, as SBTS is still consulting the banks in the country, but said that they decided not to use smart cards because chip-based cards are more expensive.

SBTS efforts in Sierra Leone follow recent moves by industry players in other country's to deploy cashless payment systems. For example, the Central Bank of Ghana last month started to deploy the "e-zwich" electronic business-transaction card, also implemented by Nigeria, Malawi and South Africa.