Orange Poland Launches Orange Finance

On 2 October, Orange Poland, in partnership with Polish bank mBank, launched a mobile banking service called Orange Finance. Orange and mBank customers will be able to conduct banking business via their Android and iOS mobile devices (Windows Phone is not currently available) and also get access to credit at competitive rates, according to the operator.

In the highly competitive Polish mobile marketplace, mobile banking is a very legitimate way for an operator to gain some advantage and boost its efforts at customer retention and acquisition. Mobile banking, which is thriving in developing countries, has been gaining ground in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe. In March 2014 in Romania, Vodafone introduced M-Pesa, the world’s largest mobile money network, which started in Africa. In Poland currently, MNO Polkomtel offers banking services in conjunction with Plus bank, while T-Mobile Poland does the same with Alior Bank.

Of course, in addition to market advantages, Orange Finance stands to bring in significant revenue for both Orange and mBank. Orange Poland has a customer base of around 15 million, and mBank has 8 million customers. Orange Poland CEO Bruno Duthoit stated that after three years the service is expected to generate “the equivalent of several percent of our current total revenue.”

The above item appeared in a recent issue of The Tarifica Alert, a weekly resource that analyzes noteworthy developments in the telecoms industry from around the world. To access all of the latest articles and issues:  http://www.tarifica.com/TarificaAlert.aspx