Mobile Success Story:
New Heights Microfinance Bank

.

New Heights uses Clickatell technology to provide Nigeria's "underbanked" population with up-to-date account alerts on their mobiles.

New Heights Microfinance Bank customers are receiving SMS messages when transactions occur, informing them on the spot of any account activity. When payments are due, customers will receive alerts letting them know. And, if fraudulent activity occurs, customers can notify New Heights immediately, rather than waiting 30 days to receive their monthly statement. New Heights also sends statements directly to mobile phones making it easy, convenient, and even possible for customers to stay in touch with their financial portfolio.

Armed with Clickatell SMS Receipts™, New Heights Nigeria has introduced its suite of microfinance solutions including loans, credit, savings, money transfer services, and microinsurance products to serve an eager underbanked market. As Africa's most populace country and counted among the top ten most populous countries in the world; Nigeria has an estimated 79% of the adult population that are considered underbanked. In order to address this huge market opportunity and meet the needs of a rapidly expanding customer base, New Heights required a highly scaleable, global, SMS-based, mobile messaging solution to improve service delivery and ensure their customers gain immediate access to their suite of microfinance products anytime, anywhere. Having the largest global range, reach and mobile messaging delivery experience in the financial services sector, Clickatell is the partner of choice to provide New Heights with enterprise-class mobile messaging solutions required to meet their growing needs now and in the future.

This new way of thinking about banking is sweeping the world, especially in areas of great poverty, as thousands of financial institutions and microfinance service providers have emerged in recent years to address the needs of the underserved, unbanked around the world. The Consultancy Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) noted, "There is a vast potential market for retail financial services among low-income clients, and a growing number of commercial banks have successfully entered this market."

"Given the tough global economic times, we are seeing strong demand for Microfinance providers to address a broader market through mobile solutions," noted Pieter de Villers, CEO of Clickatell. "Innovators like New Heights are seeking the same benefits typically provided by Clickatell to banks globally - scalability, reliability and trust. By incorporating SMS, microfinance providers can improve adoption and quality of service by increasing access to personal financial information at a relatively low cost of acquiring and servicing customers."

• Learn more about Clickatell products.
• Meet Clickatell CEO Pieter de Villiers.