The service is available in 20 of the country’s departments to Movistar’s 16 million plus mobile customers, and will soon be available nationwide. Customers will be able to access an electronic money account that will be created to link their telephone number to their “Your Mobile Money” card, and will be able to make financial transactions such as sending and receiving money from a cell phone, making card purchases at MasterCard-affiliated establishments, and replenishing the balances of their own or third-party cellphones. A credit check or a bank account are not needed to use the service, and it works with a wide range of cellular telephones, from basic model to a smartphone.

“Movistar is constantly innovating and increasingly seeking to offer its customers value-added services to improve their well-being and make their lives easier. We are certain that this initiative will promote financial inclusion among Peruvians who still have limited access to traditional financial services. Through this service, the ‘unbanked’ segments of the population will be able to benefit from the convenience and security offered by electronic money, which should further our country’s economic development,” said Movistar Mass Consumer Segment Director Gustavo Kitazono.

“High cellular penetration in this country and existing market studies allow us to conclude that cellphones are perceived as an appropriate tool for making financial transactions, as they are considered a convenient, secure and personal tool. We hope that our mobile customers will view this service as an innovative, safe and simple solution to better manage their money and save time, without need to carry cash in their pockets,” the Movistar director added.

“MasterCard facilitates global operations and payment processes, promoting commerce with safer, more convenient and beneficial payment solutions, transparent processing of billions of payment transactions in Peru and around the world, and the development of economic connections to promote business,” said MasterCard Perú General Manager Juan Antonio Cabanas. “With that goal, and with a view to achieving a world beyond cash, MasterCard has paired with Movistar to launch ‘Your Mobile Money,’ from which very positive results are expected for users and for the Peruvian economy and commerce,” he added.

“This project complements the various efforts based on mobile technology focused on financial inclusion that are starting to be promoted in the country and leveraged on the appropriate regulatory framework that has been established, with a view toward inter-operability and the generation of scale, which are basic factors in any successful, open and inclusive initiative involving payment media,” added Cabanas.