Telefonica, partners eye rural Colombia money play

Telefonica Colombia, state-run bank Banco Agrario and mobility solutions provider Comviva Technologies teamed on a six month mobile wallet trial targeting rural populations without access to traditional financial services.

In a joint statement the three said the project would extend digital financial services to agricultural producers and those in remote areas of Colombia. The trial will involve 1,000 customers and provide services including cash deposit, withdrawal and bill payment.

The service will operate under the Agromovil brand and will be available to users with smart or feature phones. Customers will be able to pay in and withdraw funds from Banco Agrario branches and its network of third-party agents.

World Bank figures state 54 per cent of the Colombian population do not have access to financial services, with the figure rising to 59 per cent in rural areas.

Banco Agrario CEO Luis Enrique Dussan Lopez said the project would “help to bank the financially excluded people by providing simple and cost-effective mobile financial services to agricultural producers, rural population and people living in remote areas.”

The partnership brings together one of the largest banks in Colombia and the second-largest mobile operator by connections, using technology from Comviva Technologies.

Banco Agrario provides banking services to rural parts of the country: it has 766 branches and 5,650 other agents across Colombia. As of the end of 2017, Telefonica Colombia had 17.9 million customers across its fixed, mobile and TV operations.