On the way to e-pesos/E-Money in the DR

PICHARDO

One Dominican at a time, please!
May 15, 2003
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Mobile Money Initiative Orange m-peso Launches in the Dominican Republic


MIAMI, Feb. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the first mobile wallet was launched in the Dominican Republic by the leading prepaid telco operator (Orange) and the largest bank (Banco Popular Dominicano). M-peso is a mobile money initiative created to cater financial services to the bottom of the pyramid, which represent 72% of the Dominican population (9.4 million, 2010 census).


The product was launched after 6 months of preparation and roughly 8 months after the regulators published the framework for virtual prepaid cards and branchless banking. The design, development and implementation of the turn-key solution was handled by GCS International, the same company that has created and commercialized great success the acclaimed regional products tPago? and Citi? Mobile Collect.



Orange m-peso is a prepaid mobile wallet emitted by Banco Popular Dominicano and associated to the mobile number that the customer has in active state. Through this innovation Dominicans can combine a telephone plan with a mobile wallet in a few simple steps, a first in this Caribbean nation.


GCS International has developed mobile payment products such as tPago?, a solution that links bank accounts and credit cards to a mobile phone and enables merchant payments, airtime topup, bill payment and person-to-person transfers between multiple financial institutions with ease.


tPago? was launched in July 2010 in the Dominican Republic to great success.


To this date the product has penetrated 25% of the banked population in only 3.5 years. In this timeframe the product has amassed more than 432 thousand subscribers by the end of 2013 with a year-over-year growth of 40%. In its last year of operations it processed 13.7 million transactions making it the most successful mobile payments product in the region thanks to its average amount of transactions per active user. As a payment method, tPago? is accepted by more than 9,000 merchants across the nation.


2013 was a year of important accolades for the product. It was shortlisted as Best Mobile Payments Platform Service at the Mobile2Payments Awards 2013 at the Mobile Money and Payments in Miami, Florida.


In its pilot phase, the first corporate clients that leveraged this service were Philip Morris Dominicana and Frito Lay Dominicana.


Through the launch of Orange m-peso, GCS International reaffirms its commitment to innovation and new ways of handling financial transactions through state-of-the-art proven custom-made solutions leveraging mobile phones for both end consumers and companies alike.


Contact: DTA

SOURCE GCS International


Mobile Money Initiative Orange m-peso Launches in the Dominican Republic -- MIAMI, Feb. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
 
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PICHARDO

One Dominican at a time, please!
May 15, 2003
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893
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Santiago de Los 30 Caballeros
Yup!

Like I said before: You'll pay the shoeshine boy with e-money too!

As a derivative result, taxes on all transactions will be real-time as well. Revenues will more then go up for the gov with no need to further increase the tax rates.

Got the lawn grass cut? Paid the guy with e-money = taxes reported and collected on services rendered.

Even the puta services will be taxed accordingly to the extra mile of services rendered...


Buy a flat panel tv? Serial # will be recorded on sales receipt and tax/state records. The TV gets stolen? The serial will be entered into the Police database and hot list of items. Same for phones, other articles.

No more robberies based on cash in stores. Home burglars will have a hard time getting a fencer to buy their goods for pennies on the peso.

The machines the DR will use to print and issue the new Cedulas can only be obtained by Governments and security institutions in the world. Each machine also uses a unique identifier on all the stuff they print, so any misused machines can be traced and disable.

The DR already employs a national ID (CEDULA) and can use the individual number tag assigned for life to each person for all transactions. Since birth till death.

E-money will be the next step to reduce tax evasion, fraud, money laundering and corruption in all levels.
 

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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Vamos a ver.

I remember what happened when they tried to switch to "drop back/spring ahead" so that time here would be the same as in New York and Puerto Rico.
 
Jan 9, 2004
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Vamos a ver.

I remember what happened when they tried to switch to "drop back/spring ahead" so that time here would be the same as in New York and Puerto Rico.

I'm with you on this one.

It's a prepaid mobile app "created to cater to the financial the needs of the bottom of the pyramid, which represent 72% of the Dominican population."

Does anyone other than Pichardo and Orange really believe the "bottom of the pyramid" is going to run to Banco Popular and prepay so they can use their phone to make a purchase? Does the "bottom of the pyramid" even have any money...or a phone capable of handling the M-peso?



Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
 
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kdolo

New member
Mar 9, 2009
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PICHARDO,

no disrespect, but are a bit naive and uninformed. E- money will certainly enable much of what you say, but of course you parrot statements without asking the proper questions. For example.

1. Yes E-money enables better tax collection, but why on earth would government need to collect any taxes at all ??- especially if money is electronic. All the money government needs it could simple create by keystroke.

2. Where money is electronic and tightly monitored and controlled by government, the result is that people willmove to black market transactions and BARTER.

3. As for your claims on fraud, corruption, and money laudering: None of them will be reduced - the likelihood is they may increase. For one, these ills have been with humanity since ..well .. the beginning. They are a function of humanity itself, and the rule of Law, NOT the form of money used.

So good luck with your Utopia. You sound like a career bureacrat or government worker... No understanding of how economies and people really work.

The real point of the e-money is two fold:

1. Government tyranny will expand exponentially - anybody who voice an opinion contrary to the politicians wil be cut off - plug pulled - on the ability to buy even food. - they will be labelled dissidents. They could eve have their taxes raised massively - instantaneously.

2. All money will be "in the cloud" all the time - thus the banks/bankers will always have it - in order to trade on it at will all the time without having to worry about withdrawals, and use it for bailouts/bailins at will.

So E-money will lead to and enable tyranny/fascism.
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
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Talk about getting as far from the gold standard as is technically possible today. A good thing? No, it is not.

I can only imagine how much fraud will be committed under this system where everything is totally out of the hands of the consumer.
 

kdolo

New member
Mar 9, 2009
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Talk about getting as far from the gold standard as is technically possible today. A good thing? No, it is not.

I can only imagine how much fraud will be committed under this system where everything is totally out of the hands of the consumer.

yup

you got that right
 

ramesses

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Jun 17, 2005
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This whole thread must be a joke.

I know people here that rarely have pesos on their phones...they get people to phone them...you are talking about everyone getting a plan?

What do tourists do...I always turned off my phone when I visited as the roaming was a bitch.

There are plenty of places that don't get a signal...even here in Sosua.

I know people who lose/robbed of their phones twice a month. What happens when you lose your phone?

What happens when the power goes out and you can't charge your phone?

What do illegals in the country do?

This seems like another pie in the sky idea that will never see the real light of day.
 

PICHARDO

One Dominican at a time, please!
May 15, 2003
13,280
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Santiago de Los 30 Caballeros
This whole thread must be a joke.


Really?



I know people here that rarely have pesos on their phones...they get people to phone them...you are talking about everyone getting a plan?


Any phone can be linked to the virtual account. Be them prepaid or post-paid.

This is not about they using the phone to add money, but using their virtual accounts as you use your actual and tangible checking account for everyday biz and via your bank's linked debit/atm card.

In this case, any person with a Cedula in the DR will able to open a virtual bank account, link their cell phone's # to it and any other device to make or request purchases on that platform. They can get their wages deposited directly by employers into their virtual accounts.

What do tourists do...I always turned off my phone when I visited as the roaming was a bitch.

Tourists will be able to do the same thing with their own cell phones/devices and the only difference is that their accounts will only be valid for a limited time linked to their legal status/stay in the DR.


There are plenty of places that don't get a signal...even here in Sosua.

Phones and other devices able to use the system will be also able to link via Wifi. For that reason the DR gov is deploying a fiber optic network trunk to cover the entire territory with wide band access.

I know people who lose/robbed of their phones twice a month. What happens when you lose your phone?


Phone gets stolen, nothing happens other than the phone getting stolen. The pay system also requires a PIN to accept the payments being made with it. The person will only need to get another phone and linked to the account and remove the old phone as well. Fully secured. Don't even need a phone for it to work! It can be done with any internet connected device as well.

What happens when the power goes out and you can't charge your phone?

Again, don't need the phone to make or receive payments. Even using any internet connected device will do.

What do illegals in the country do?


That's the beauty of it! Unless you're legal and allowed to be in the country for biz/stay, it won't work for you. At best somebody will let you use of their account, but they will soon run into trouble when the sourcing/amounts deposited/used on their accounts don't match their wages/deposits/IRS reports. It won't be worth it for anybody to do that for anybody else long term.



This seems like another pie in the sky idea that will never see the real light of day.

That's exactly what others said when I posted about it here so many times, yet here it's!
 

ramesses

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Jun 17, 2005
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That's the beauty of it! Unless you're legal and allowed to be in the country for biz/stay, it won't work for you. At best somebody will let you use of their account, but they will soon run into trouble when the sourcing/amounts deposited/used on their accounts don't match their wages/deposits/IRS reports. It won't be worth it for anybody to do that for anybody else long term.

Talk about setting yourself up for a black market. LOL
 

ramesses

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Jun 17, 2005
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Tourists will be able to do the same thing with their own cell phones/devices and the only difference is that their accounts will only be valid for a limited time linked to their legal status/stay in the DR.


Speaking as a tourist. There is no way in hell I would deal with this. What are you going to do with all of those cruise tourists? Imagine the nightmare of everyone that visits, setting up accounts and accessing them with devices that they want to turn off when they get here. All those bank service charges as you load these accounts...trading of cash and converting it into these accounts. Give me a break.
 

ramesses

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Jun 17, 2005
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I can see this being used by a portion of the population but it will never work with the majority....namely poor people.
 

Africaida

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Jun 19, 2009
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In a country where I am hesitant to use my credit card and limit my trips to ATM. Do you think I would consider paying anything with a cell phone/devices ??????????? Dubai or Switzerland may be, but DR ? Until my bank automatically block my card when they see transactions originating from there, I don't think so.
 

PICHARDO

One Dominican at a time, please!
May 15, 2003
13,280
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113
Santiago de Los 30 Caballeros
In a country where I am hesitant to use my credit card and limit my trips to ATM. Do you think I would consider paying anything with a cell phone/devices ??????????? Dubai or Switzerland may be, but DR ? Until my bank automatically block my card when they see transactions originating from there, I don't think so.

It's not about what you consider, but what will be.

For now you still have options, later there will be only those selected and that's it.