The Burundi Commercial Bank (BANCOBU) and the East African country's Telecommunications Company (ONATEL) have launched Mobicash mobile money banking product to increase the rate of access to the country's financial services currently estimated at about 4 percent.

At the launch of the new product on Tuesday, an official at the BANCOBU said that Mobicash comes to "revolutionize the money transfer system" in Burundi."The Mobicash will allow each holder of a mobile phone to do business with traders, transfer and withdraw money as well as pay bills at any time in total security," said Prosper Nyankiye, official at the Burundi Commercial Bank (BANCOBU). He said this service will contribute to the authorities' efforts to increase access of the population to financial services whose "rate is 3.7 percent" of adult people.

According to a study conducted in 2011 by the Burundian Central Bank (BRB), only 3.7 percent of Burundians aged above 18 years have access to financial services.

Source: Xinhua