Latinia, the software company specializing in SMS messaging integration platforms for mobile financial services, announced today that REDEBAN MULTICOLOR will join its portfolio of customers. REDEBAN MULTICOLOR offers cardholders, financial institutions and merchants a technology platform for electronic transmission and routing of transactions done via points of sale, automatic tellers, audio response systems, mobile banking (SIM card based), and SMS services, on the latter of which both companies will collaborate. REDEBAN MULTICOLOR’s mBanking platform was deployed in 2008, with new service packages based on messaging and transactions expected to be released in 2010, due to the success and acceptance received. Latinia is currently expanding its operations in Latin America, where it already has clients such as Grupo Santander and Telefonica Internacional.
According to Enrique De La Rosa, president of REDEBAN MULTICOLOR, “as company policy, we want technological alliances with leading companies in the world in each of our areas of activities, and Latinia has shown, with their portfolio of references, experience and excellent product, that they fit in perfectly with our intentions of providing the best infrastructure possible to develop our SMS Banking offer.” For Latinia, in the words of its highest level business manager, Francesc Perez, “REDEBAN takes on an impassioned challenge with its dual profile as a company dedicated to the financial world, while being a service provider, terrain in which we already have experience with 4b, leading company in Spain with which we have a great business relationship.”
“Just as with other developing countries, the penetration of electronic payment methods in Colombia is still in its early stages, and more than 85% of financial transactions are undertaken in cash or through other payment alternatives. On the other hand, in Colombia the number of cellular telephones reached 42.3 million in 2009, and more than 90% penetration, which makes the cell phone the perfect ally for financial institutions to promote the availability of banking services in the country. Understanding this reality, and with the intention to always be on the vanguard of technological solutions, at REDEBAN MULTICOLOR we decided three years ago to enthusiastically support mobile technology as one of our emblematic products, and we want Latinia, with its 10 years’ of experience in SMS services and clients such as La Caixa, Caja España, Grupo Banco Popular, BBVA, and Santander Puerto Rico, to help us consolidate our technological leadership position with their demonstrated technological expertise as a strategic ally in mobile services specializing in text messaging,” De La Rosa stated.
Thanks to cellular telephony and its integration with the new technology departments of financial institutions, costs for banks in Colombia have been notably reduced, as each month an average of 1 million transactions that would have otherwise been carried out by other means, today are handled via text messaging.