Unified Agent Interface

In the service cycle of mobile payments, agents of mobile payment service providers (mPSPs) play an integral role in serving customers. Services including registration, cash-in and cash-out are offered to customers through agents, in addition to technical assistance when possible. Agents could be merchants, such as mobile shops and supermarkets, or exchange houses, or branches of telecommunication companies. Up until recently, agents of a mobile payment service provider (mPSP) served only clients of that mPSP. This has limited accessibility to services for customers and possibly led to discouraging them to adopt mobile wallets. For agents, connecting to more than mobile wallet application on the same device can be technically challenging.

To address this challenge, JoPACC developed an in-house solution in 2019 to enable agents to serve customers of all mobile payment service providers. This solution is the Unified Agent Interface (UAI).  UAI is a portal that enables access by super agents to all mobile wallet applications that are connected to the portal. This technical integration assists agents to partner with more than one mPSP and have unified access to all their applications. To ensure this service reaches a high number of users across Jordan, JoPACC partnered with the Jordan Post Company to have post office branches serve as agents to all mPSPs through the UAI. Post offices enjoy a high level of trust by citizens and are widely spread across the kingdom, besides the fact that utility bill payments are possible through them. They further serve beneficiaries of national programs, such as the National Aid Fund (NAF).

To ensure that post branches are capable of serving as agents, JoPACC in partnership with different entities and donors started building the capacity of the branches by equipping them with the needed devices and technical requirements, in addition to training staff on the agent’s responsibilities and onboarding them on the portal. The Arab Women’s Enterprise Fund (AWEF) was one of the key partners who supported equipping post branches in more than 5 cities. So far, over 23 branches have been equipped in Mafraq, Jerash, Ajloun, Karak, Tafilah and Maan.