News
GFG launches Canadian subsidiary
06 June 2007
Grant Halverson
GFG Group has announced the formation of a Canadian subsidiary (GFG Group Payment Solutions Ltd) and the intention to set up a Canadian office based in Toronto to service the North American market.
GFG Group chief executive Grant Halverson says the move is in response to a building level of new business enquiry in Canada, following the selection of GFG’s Simfonie mobile payments software by Canada’s Wireless Payments Services during 2006.
GFG’s Halverson says mature markets, such as Canada, are behind emerging economies in mobile payments, as the established payments infrastructure of developed economies is slower to adopt new technologies.
“For example, one of our most advanced clients is SMART Communications, the largest mobile Telco in the Philippines. SMART has been using GFG design and software as part of its Smart Money platform which enables its subscribers to have a virtual wallet accessible from their mobile phone or via a MasterCard scheme card for POS. Smart Money provides a wide range of sophisticated banking and remittance services, all triggered by the customers’ mobile phone,” Halverson says.
“The signals we’re getting from the Canadian market, in terms of new business enquiry, indicate that Canada is ready to move to mobile payments. We’re keen to be in on the ground floor, and have resources on the ground as the market develops.
Halverson says mature economies such as Canada are looking to less developed economies for the ‘shape of things to come’. These markets have lower barriers to entry and have experienced rapid growth in the last five years.
“Also two months ago, SMART Communications went live with their Smart Services Hub (which incorporates GFG software), a new mobile phone-based remittance processing system which allows customers to remit funds between Bahrain and the Philippines.”
Halverson says GFG now has more than 20 percent market share of the global market for sophisticated payments (excluding top-up) made using a mobile phone. Of a total global market of 2.7 billion consumers using mobile phones, around 800 million are estimated to be using some payments function, yielding around $US 920 million in Telco revenues from mobile payments. Around 90 million mobile consumers are using sophisticated payment functions. This number is expected to quadruple within the next three years.
GFG is also having success in the North American market with its banking products, Halverson says, having just completed Card Issuing at West Suburban Bank in Chicago and implementation of the Interac standard into its FINsim testing software for a Canadian bank.
“These are exciting times in mobile payments and GFG Group is highly committed to moving quickly to support Canadian customers,” Halverson says.
