Revving Merchant Card Acceptance

September 30, 2010

There's an initiative underway to broaden financial inclusion in underserved markets by making it easier (and cheaper) for cash-only merchants to accept electronic card-based payments.

MPOWER Ventures, an Austin firm that invests in initiatives focused on the underserved, has developed a card-reader it calls Rev COIN. The device makes it possible for merchants to use any mobile telephone handset in order to accept and process credit/debit/prepaid cards through any existing payment network (such as Visa or MasterCard).

Because it works with technology most of the world's merchants already have - the mobile phone - COIN lowers barriers to payment network participation for cash-only merchants in underserved markets, the company said in announcing COIN.

MPOWER Ventures is a holding company for Rev Worldwide and MPOWER Mobile, which operate in the prepaid card network and mobile payments markets, respectively. MPOWER executives made a commitment during the Clinton Global Initiative in New York last year to leverage its company's technology solutions and partnerships to deliver financial services to 5 million underserved consumers around the world in 5 years. Last week, at the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative, those execs reported they were on track with achieving that goal.

Today, MPOWER says its companies are powering integrated prepaid-mobile payments programs in markets as diverse as Romania, Kosovo, India, Mexico, Australia and the United States. Going forward, the company wants to make it easier and affordable for cash-only merchants to accept card payments, using its COIN device.

"Around the world, millions of merchants conduct billions in sales almost exclusively in cash because it has been the only convenient, universally accepted form of payment they can afford to accept," said Roy Sosa, co-founder of MPOWER Ventures. "If we're serious about broadening access to financial services in underserved markets, that has to change. Solving this challenge will be our priority for accelerating progress toward our commitment," he insisted.

"The cost of traditional POS terminals isn't just a barrier to the growth of businesses that remain bound to cash; it also hinders the expansion of card acceptance networks, slows consumer adoption of new ways to pay and ultimately delays the arrival of mainstream financial services," Sosa added.

P2P payments in the U.S. total about $2.9 trillion annually; almost all involve cash and checks

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