2. Peru is a fast-growing market
with four operators and an
estimated 33 million mobile
connections for a population of
approximately 31 million (Source:
GSMA, 2015). Despite high mobile
penetration and a supportive
regulatory environment, mobile
financial services had yet to take
off in the country. Early mobile
money deployments were largely
unsuccessful and estimates put
the number of banked people in
Peru as low as 30 percent.
Nearly half of the labor force is
casually employed in the service
sector or the agricultural and
fishing industries (Source: World
Bank, 2014). Thus, cash is the
most frequent method of payment
and concerns about security when
carrying, transporting, or handling
cash are widespread.
Challenges
Peru has more than 30,000
banking agents and nearly 11
million debit cards for a population
of approximately 31 million, yet its
complex topography – comprising
the high altitudes of the Andes and
the low-lying natural beauty of the
Amazon rainforest – is an obstacle
for people living in remote areas to
access financial services such as
microfinance or social payments.
Other reasons why so many
people in Peru lacked access to
formal banking services include
high degrees of poverty and low
levels of literacy – a common trend
found across Latin America.
Solution
The stakeholders involved in
Modelo Perú shared resources
and experience gained from
previous successful deployments
around the world to build a new
solution designed to reach scale,
ensure liquidity, and make mobile
financial services attractive to the
unbanked.
Ericsson enabled Peru’s financial
service providers to reuse existing
assets to bundle secure telecom
and financial services and is
currently providing PDP with
systems integration, learning
services, managed services
and support. Ericsson’s mobile
financial service offering includes
full-system integration into one
MOBILE FINANCIAL
SERVICES IN PERU
CUSTOMER PROFILE
Unprecedented collaboration led to the launch on February 16, 2016 of the world’s first truly interoperable mobile financial
services focused on financial inclusion. The Peruvian government, in a unique partnership with financial institutions, telcos
and other shareholders informally known as Modelo Perú, cooperated and shared resources to research, design and launch
Bim (short for billetera móvil or “mobile wallet” in Spanish).
Bim is operated by Peruvian Digital Payments (PDP), a new service provider co-owned by the Association of Banks of Peru
(ASBANC) as well as many of its member banks and electronic money issuers. For its part in this historic process, Ericsson
supplied its mobile financial service solution including the development of a mobile money platform, systems integration,
learning services, managed services and support.
www.asbanc.com.pe
2014
Ericsson is chosen by ASBANC to design and implement its
mobile money project, the country’s largest private initiative for
financial inclusion.
2015
Peruvian Digital Payments (PDP) conducts focus groups
designed to educate participants in basic mobile money
transactions such as cash in/out, P2P money transfers, and
verifying payments. Feedback gathered from the focus groups
was used to improve Bim’s system design.
Ericsson and ASBANC are recognized with a Global Telecoms
Business Innovation Award in the category of Business Service
Innovation.
2016
The official launch of Bim, the first fully interoperable national
payments platform, which is focused on driving financial
inclusion by extending services to Peru’s unbanked and
offering accessibility.
2019
ASBANC aims to include 2.1 million Peruvians with Bim by 2019.
Timeline
3. [Bim] will mean welfare for the country,
welfare for our population, and it
will improve their economic and
educational level.”
Oscar Rivera,
President of ASBANC