Panama cell phone banking on a roll

Yappy is the new in word for Banco General customers in Panama as it steps up the use of cell phones for transactions.

Yappy links the customer’s cell phone number to the account so that it is not even necessary to enter the digits to transfer money.

To use it, the customer must have an account at the bank, have downloaded the mobile banking application on the cell phone and register as a user of Yappy.

Once inside the is new function, to make a transfer,  the customer only has to select the contact to which the money is to be transferred,s mark the amount and send.

You can also ask for money from another user. There is no limit in the number of transactions, but they must be less than $ 10,000.

“Since  June 4, more than 45,000 customers have registered with Yappy.

It is currently available for personal customers and could evolve in the future to allow payment in shops

Clearance
 The  National Bank of Panama (BNP) and the Superintendency of Banks hope to conclude this year the project that will allow t settlement in real time. In this way, when a transfer is made between accounts of different banks, it will be reflected immediately and not after hours or days, as is currently the case. The greater agility in the transfer of funds should lead to the popularization of the use of electronic wallets and facilitate transactions between the wallets of different banks.

The Nequi application, created by Banistmo,  has 70,000 active users. Raúl Romero, director of Nequi Digital Banking, explained that with this application a savings account can be opened from the cell phone, with the telephone number being the same account number. The application allows you to send money from cell phone to cell phone, receive funds from any online banking from other banks, pay at allied stores through QR codes, as well as recharge or withdraw funds. You can recharge cell phones, the Panapass, the Panama Metro or pay tickets and the license plate of the vehicle.

Nequi users have the possibility to manage their funds, “creating savings goals, available blocks and separating the expenses of the month in different pockets, which allows them to have total control of their money and generate savings without realizing it”, says Romero

Nequi is downloaded from the Android Play Store or the iOS App Store, the Apple operating system. It is not necessary to have a previous account in a bank, only a cell phone number is required, be of legal age and a national or foreign resident.

T