Facebook has established a 900-million+ user base and according to Internet World Stats online, Africa makes up 6.2% of the world's Internet user population – with high Facebook user stats in March 2012, including 10, 475, 940 users in Egypt, 3, 328, 800 users in Algeria and 4,312, 060 users in Nigeria.
At the same time global banks and financial institutions are becoming more aware of the value of social networks to extend the reach of their service offering and meet customer's need for placing people at the centre of banking. This, however, often doesn't go beyond a bank just offering its customers the ability to conduct their daily banking activities on Facebook.
If this strategy is conducted effectively, it will represent a huge pool of opportunity for banks to begin their journey into the social graph to enhance service profiles, retain existing customers and acquire new customers in new and existing markets says management behind ZunguZ, the multi-tier micro-payment platform that is deeply integrated with Facebook, through agreements dating back to 2010.
The rapid growth of number of users within social networks, in emerging markets, represents the same 'un-banked' user base – the largest growth market moving onto the smartphone platform. This is a catalyst for the revolution of the banking industry. ZunguZ connects these worlds and makes way for a new channel of communication to put in motion a series of new opportunities for financial service providers to tap into new and existing customers.
Whilst reviewing the status of the ZunguZ platform, entrepreneurs Robert Sussman and Lance Fanaroff have proven that ZunguZ allows banks operating in global markets to acquire new customers via the ZunguZ platform. ZunguZ goes beyond just allowing banks to operate inside facebook, but rather placing people at the centre of banking and making the banking experience with regards to payments, social.
ZunguZ cautions banks and bank account holders from traditional banking on Facebook, should they not be using a platform with deep intelligence, patented algorithms and fraud management analytics that has made ZunguZ explode overnight in global markets. ZunguZ separates banking client's bank details and financial holdings from the social graph.
ZunguZ transfers the value of the evolution and revolution in modern banking thanks to the advent of change in the way people engage with social media and the ability to place people at the centre when there is an online point of purchase made available at anytime.
There are numerous Person-to-Person, Person-to-Business and Business-to-Business payment systems available, and a handful of banks that risk exposing customers' accounts via Facebook.
This is where ZunguZ is differentiated in terms of its technical analytics, fraud scraping and proven architecture, with social features that go beyond payments. ZunguZ has been built with people at the centre and not just payment technology.
ZunguZ's embedded intelligence, including its 'Z-button' feature, which facilitates automated, immediate online transactions, its full security functionality (including Thawte certification, SSL and HTTPS, and second factor authentication) and the fact that this is the first global person-to-person payment solution that is based on interaction between 'friends' and Facebook users who do not require an existing bank account.
Financial institutions are likely to pay a great deal more attention to the social network habits of customers and their communication across these platforms.
Banks working with ZunguZ, allow them to attract new customers, as their customers don't need to have a bank account with their bank to have a full banking experience. We deliver these customers to the banks through agreements with our banking partners. So, instead of following the traditional 'blanket mass marketing' model with service promotions, banks are likely to target specific services at specific clients, based on their projected value.
The power now rests with the consumer and numerous account service functions can be performed at any place, at any time.
Furthermore, banking and financial institutions will concentrate on reducing costs and this means reviewing infrastructure.
ZunguZ is in consultation with global financial institutions and is already working with Mastercard in Mexico.