Partnerships to facilitate the adoption of Digital Financial Services

In light of the implications that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the economy and on financial services, and to assist citizens who were negatively impacted by the lockdown and by the halt of economic activities, JoPACC collaborated with several governmental and non-governmental entities to facilitate aide and salary payments through mobile wallets. JoPACC, the operator of mobile payments switch “JoMoPay”, worked with the National Aid Fund and the Social Security Corporation to facilitate the disbursement of aid and social security compensation to thousands of beneficiaries through mobile wallets. This collaboration comes as a step to increase the uptake of digital financial services and ultimately increase financial inclusion in the kingdom.

The National Aid Fund has embraced mobile payments as a channel to make payments to their beneficiaries in 2019 and encouraged their beneficiaries to open wallets to receive their monthly aid through them. Before the pandemic, a large number of beneficiaries received their due payments in cash. Since mid-March, the limited movement and the fear of contagion through cash made due payments to beneficiaries challenging. To address this challenge, JoPACC in collaboration with the Central Bank of Jordan presented the service of opening wallets with online self-registration to facilitate transferring funds digitally to all beneficiaries.

The Social Security Corporation partnered with JoPACC early this year to introduce mobile wallets as a new payment channel to their beneficiaries. Following the COVID-19 pandemic spread, the Social Security Corporation introduced new programs to compensate workers whose livelihoods were affected by COVID-19 and adopted mobile wallets for payments.

JoPACC has further supported SEP Jordan, a social enterpriise that works with women in Jerash’s “Gaza” refugee camp to increase their livelihood by producing and selling embroidered accessories, in opening wallets for their beneficiaries and spreading awareness messages to encourage those women to use the wallets actively. SEP is now using the wallets to disburse assistance to its beneficiaries. Moreover, JoPACC is working closely with a university in the kingdom that plans to use mobile wallets for scholarship fund transfers to their students.

Between mid-March and mid-May, nearly half a million wallets were opened and enabled financial transactions as a safe and convenient alternative to cash. The COVID-19 pandemic encouraged entities to shift to digital payments and reduce cash payments. Besides increasing access to services in Jordan, mobile wallets offer a convenient and cost-effective payment tool and are considered a safe option to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 through contaminated cash.