Isis becomes Softcard to avoid Islamic State association

Mobile money joint venture Isis has changed its name to Softcard in an effort to distance itself from the militant jihadist group operating in Iraq and Syria.

  12 8 comments

Isis becomes Softcard to avoid Islamic State association

Editorial

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The venture, owned by AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, said in July that it would ditch the Isis name to avoid any association with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria jihadist group.

The terror group - which is fighting to create a caliphate in Iraq and Syria and yesterday posted a video purporting to show the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff - has actually renamed itself and now goes by the name Islamic State.

However, the wallet JV has pushed ahead with its new moniker, with Michael Abbott, CEO, saying: "However coincidental, we have no desire to share a name with this group and our hearts go out to those affected by this violence."

Customers will see the new name when the app is updated in the next few weeks. "Together with a simple and flexible visual system, the inherent simplicity of Softcard gives it the potential to become a category defining name. That's a bold aspiration, but one that matches the breadth of our vision," says Abbott.

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Comments: (8)

A Finextra member 

Wonder how many people would actually confuse a mobile payment scheme with a Middle Eastern terrorist group?  Far more likely that the ISIS (payments) folks are seeking to blame the lackluster performance of their network on the similarity of the names rather than an insufficiently compelling consumer value proposition and lack of functionality.  

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

@JimW + 1. 

A Finextra member 

Hope IS don't further re-name themselves to something like Valiant Islamic State Association ...

A Finextra member 

Maybe the Oxford 2nd Boat Race crew will want to change their boat name too :-(

Matt White

Matt White North America editor at Finextra

Well, heavy metal band Isis has been getting some stick on Facebook but nobody has yet confused Fordham University feminist group In Strength I Stand with the jihadists.

A Finextra member 

Well one is a huge evil network of fundamentalists.... and the other is a terrorist group in Syria and Iraq...

Hitesh Thakkar

Hitesh Thakkar Technology Evangelist (Financial Technology) at SME - Fintech startups (APAC and Africa)

Long waited name change happen hope re-naming ceremoney also bring good news of success of it's m-payment roll out program.

Softcard is good name hope to see smoother functioning and improvement to follow. It coincides with MCX coming up with CurrentC network announcement :)

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

At least some organizations don't have to spend big bucks for branding and corporate identity!

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