VTNGLOBAL, INC, a USA licensed issuer of payment instruments and money transmitter, is partnering with a bank in the USA to unlock diaspora remittance opportunities. The company, together with Remco, the distributed ledger arm of the company, and VCASH, the emerging market sister company, to pilot mobile wallet app that improves on the efficiencies of money transmission by empowering financial institutions, SMEs, and consumers in the emerging markets and developed economies.
“At least 1 in 3 immigrants from Africa’s largest market have had their money sent through our API at some point, but these immigrants themselves are not aware of who we are.” said the CEO Dr. Peter Ojo. If you are wondering how the money you sent to your loved ones was credited to their bank account instantly, before leaving the agent location or after clicking send online, chances are it was processed using our technology. If you are wondering how you are now able to pick up Western Union online instead of going to the bank, our technology made this happen seven years ago.
VTNGLOBAL is coming out again to be more visible to consumers by empowering consumers, financial, and non-financial institutions with a new capability beyond what is currently available in the market. This new mobile wallet will allow customers to hold a virtual multi-currency account. It will open up direct investment opportunities for immigrants in their home countries and be able to support different sectors of the economy.
In 2018, the World Bank estimates that overall global remittance grew by 10% to US$689 billion, including US$528 billion to developing countries. Experts believe that informal money transfers and untapped SMEs transactions may equal this amount.
The top remittance recipient in Africa is Nigeria, trailing Mexico, Philipines, China, and India being the topmost recipient. Yet, the SMEs in these developing countries still face serious challenges when doing business with others outside their home countries. There is a lack of awareness by the financial service providers and banks outside emerging markets about the opportunities doing business with developing economies that is fundamental, and we plan to change that.
“One of the reluctance in doing business freely with developing countries is the perception about lack of robust AML prevention by the financial services providers in these countries, but this perception is not reflective of the current realities.” Says Dr. Peter Ojo, who has been in the Fintech space for over 17 years and holds a Doctorate ++ research on Antimoney Laundering.
Dr. Ojo observed that financial service providers in Nigeria, especially adhere to the AML provisions by the regulators more than reported in the news. In Nigeria, for example, every citizen needing a bank account is required to register for a BVN number, which captures the biodata of the individual, passport photographs, government-issued ID’s, etc. — also designed to be accessible to financial service providers through an API. This data sharing provision is currently not existing in many developed economies or just evolving in many cases.
In addition to this, the payment system in Nigeria, for example, is sophisticated such that a bank to bank transaction confirmation is in real-time, and solution providers can verify if customers have this ID (Boolean confirmation or actual biodata with photo) before doing business with them.
The Central Bank of Nigeria also requires a tiered AML/KYL level such that the amount of money an individual or corporation can receive is dependent on their level of KYC documents submitted to the bank or other Financial Institutions. This is in addition to the mandatory BVN number requirement. Many solutions providers go a step further by running every transaction on OFAC data received from the US treasury department.
All these provisions make it possible for financial institutions to track activities and limit the amount of money an individual can receive in their wallet or bank account.
Traditional AML guidelines assume that transactions that fall within an expected pattern are legal. In contrast, those transactions that show unusual patterns are flagged as suspicious or categorized as potentially illegal or money laundering activities. This assumption can be tested using a small convenience store or small scale money transmission business. A small convenience store (delegate agent) selling prepaid phone cards and providing money service business such as remittance may make several different deposits weekly into the bank of the money transmitter (Principal). The intention of the separate tranche of deposits may be to differentiate between the proceeds for different services for easy reconciliation later, whereas the bank compliance team may see such activities as an attempt to avoid detection eligible for Currency Transaction Report (CTR) reporting to the regulators, also known as structuring. Eventually, the bank may cancel the account of the business without giving any explanation. Since banks have the right to cancel an account without expressly providing a reason, such a business may fall victim to inefficient AML detection measures. A better approach is needed to recognize patterns that are unique to certain businesses instead of penalizing businesses indiscriminately.
In addition to migrants sending money home, there exist opportunities for SME’s in developing countries to also do business with the rest of the world. For example, the world bank noted that as much as $100 billion in migrant savings could be raised annually by developing countries by reducing remittance costs and agent recruitment costs while mobilizing diaspora savings and philanthropic contributions from migrants. But we contend that this can only be realized faster with bi-directional trade or transactions.
VTNGLOBAL, with its sister company VCASH, and other licensed partners and banks in the US, to pilot a global first mobile app designed to connect SMEs, Fintech companies, virtual health services, agricultural exporters and importers seamlessly and others, thereby promoting trade and prosperity among participants.
The App is a hybrid of Fiat money with distributed ledger capabilities, but all connected through a single node for secure and smooth transaction messaging among users and partner banks.
Dr. Peter Ojo, CEO of VTNGLOBAL, said, “We have developed capabilities with several licenses in the USA, strong bank partnerships in the US and emerging markets, and other jurisdictions. Our distributed ledger capabilities assure greater efficiency and unparalleled interoperability globally. Our plan for 2020 is simple, continue to streamline payments, cut the red tapes, and enable collaborations among ordinary citizens and SMEs globally”.
We fished strong in 2019 and now embarking on services that can accelerate business transactions between emerging markets and developed countries. “
++ The goal is to offer alternative AML compliance processes that will be faster and more accurate for financial institutions. In the study, the researcher examined the need for a streamlined approach for obtaining and analyzing AML/KYC data for financial services at the onset of relationship forming.
The study was anchored in economic theory, crying wolf theory, transparency-stability theory, and systems theory. The study adopted a descriptive research design and gathered data using a well-structured validated questionnaire designed by the researcher based on the variables of the study with a reliability coefficient of 0.909 and an internal consistency (α) of 0.975. Some data were gathered through an online survey, while others were gathered through hard-copy questionnaires. Frequency distribution revealed that more of the respondents — a total of 76 (60.8%) — were males, while the other 49 (39.2%) were females. Data gathered was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
The findings revealed that in receiving AML data, there exists a significant difference in effective AML compliance [F (4, 120) = 15.602; P<.01]; with regard to the sending of AML data, there exists a significant difference in effective AML compliance [F (4, 120) = 16.996; P<.01]. Also, in terms of returning AML data, there exists a significant difference in effective AML compliance [F (4, 120) = 8.244; P<.01]. In relation to receiving back the AML and due diligence questionnaire, there exists a significant difference in effective AML compliance [F (4, 120) = 13.954; P<.01]. Finally, there exists no significant relationship between AML effectiveness and the time/speed of completion (r = .032; P>.05).
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About VTNGLOBAL
VTNGLOBAL, INC. is a USA Fintech company. The company develops, license, and manage mobile payment transaction network and e-commerce platform to financial institutions and Telecom companies.
About Remco
REMCO’s is a distributed ledger solution with operational benefits of increased transparency, increased record security, and improved accuracy.” In 2019, REMCO tokenized all the currency of the world and added three new advisors to their team:
• Ty McCoy, United States Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Air Force under President Reagan, Early Investor, Brent Segal Ph.D. Harvard (200+ patents), Moses Asom, Ph.D. (MBA Wharton) and other high profile advisors with industry experience guiding the company.
REMCO is led by CEO/CTO Peter Ojo who pioneered mobile wallet remittance terminations with Western Union and created an API that allows many USA remittance businesses to terminate funds into bank accounts and mobile wallets.
About VTNETWORK Limited
VTNETWORK LIMITED is a leader in Nigerian payment services. It developed its platform in 2007 after several years processing transactions led to research into the peculiarities and challenges of electronic commerce in Nigeria and fully licensed by CBN for mobile payments and International Money Transfer. The platform is unique due to the highly innovative technical team founders, its hybrid nature, the redundancy of its fully-fledged capabilities, and management knowledge of Nigerian digital consumers. It serves both m-payment and e-payment needs in the Nigerian marketplace. For more information, visit www.virtualterminalnetwork.com
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