Companion cards—a debit or pre-paid card tied to a mobile money account—have become an increasingly common part of mobile money offerings in recent years. In a blog post we wrote in 2014, we acknowledged that companion cards were a rising trend, particularly in Latin America. In a more recent post this year, we highlighted an interesting use case on companion cards in the Philippines and its relationship with technology early adopters. Nonetheless, the use of this form factor for mobile money is still relatively new and under-explored. To better understand the companion card landscape, we are pleased to share a new publication that looks into why and how companion cards are being implemented by mobile money providers..
As of August 2016, at least 24 mobile money deployments globally offered a companion card. Yet, approaches regarding companion cards vary across markets and across providers. By studying those mobile money services that have chosen to offer plastic alongside their mobile money service, we can begin to extract early learnings and trends, which will help to inform strategic and operational considerations for the wider industry.
Whether offered as an optional channel or as a core part of the service offering, companion cards can change the overall economics and value proposition of a mobile money service. On the upside, some mobile money providers who have embraced companion cards cite the ability to fast track the uptake of a range of use cases (e.g. merchant payments, e-commerce, ATM withdrawals), and report an increase in customer acquisition in cases where cards are aspirational to target customer segments. On the downside, companion cards require significant operational adaptations relating to IT infrastructure, logistics and distribution, as well as strategic adaptations, namely relating to product positioning and marketing.
This new publication sheds light on how companion cards fit into the broader payments ecosystem, as well as provides an overview of some of the strategic and operational considerations for providers looking to launch this proposition in their markets.
As always, we look forward to hearing from you. Please send your thoughts on companion cards for mobile money to [email protected]