Virgin Mobile develops Saudi banking app

Virgin Mobile develops Saudi banking app

RIYADH: Telecom provider Virgin Mobile has signed an agreement with the Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB) to become the first entity in the Kingdom to obtain a banking agent's license.

The strategic partnership, endorsed by the Saudi Arabian Central Bank, will enable the telecom provider's customers to use financial services on their phones.

Erik Dudman Nielsen, Group CEO of Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa, told Arab News the announcement of the new milestone made him proud.

"We're now in a position where we can enable Virgin Mobile customers to take electronic funds of any sort and fundamentally allow them to do international money transmittance or remittance,“ he said.

Nielsen said that the services would be made available to everyone, regardless of which banks they had accounts in or which telecom providers they used.

"Users will not need to have an account with the Saudi Investment Bank. You're completely bank independent. Any customer from any bank, or for that matter, any mobile operator, can use our app and perform mobile transfers. But existing customers of Virgin Mobile will get exclusive benefits for their transfers,“ he said.

Phase one, which the company aims to kickstart in February, will allow customers to use the application to link their bank