BRAC Bank, Afghanistan has selected TPS for rolling out its alternate distribution schema and proprietary cards in the country. Stimulated by the influx of international aid, the Afghan economy has been growing steadily in the past five years. Seventeen banks with branches around the country are now operating in Afghanistan since 2003. The double – digit growth of the economy and the banking industry has triggered the e-banking motion as well. TPS, with three customers in Afghanistan – BRAC Afghanistan being the third – has already created its strong influence.
BRAC Bank will be using Phoenix as ATM Switch for Issuing and Acquiring proprietary Cards & deploying ACCeSS for Card Production and PIN generation of Proprietary cards. Additionly branch and merchant POS will also connect with Phoenix besides VISA debit cards issuing and SMS acquiring.
BRAC Bank, Afghanistan is the fourteenth scheduled commercial bank in Afghanistan, headquartered in Kabul . Since inception in October 2006, the bank’s footprint has grown to 5 Fully Functional online branches, 3 small online branch booths and 18 SME unit offices across the country.
In collaboration with TPS’ trusted partner and reseller, International Acumen, this project will be done in two phases. In the first phase, Phoenix will be implemented as a unified ATM controller and a debit card switch, acting as Debit CMS; with bi-lingual ATM screens and multi-currency support. The second phase will enable BRAC Bank, Afghanistan to become Visa debit cards issuer, acquirer of Visa on ATM and POS Channels, SMS acquirer and integrated channel manager.
Phoenix scalable and modular design will enable the bank to integrate the ATM channel onto a single platform – and cost-effectively add various new services and delivery channels as and when required – while managing the increasing transaction volumes.
The Visa debit card will enable BRAC Bank cardholders to use their cards and access their funds locally and internationally at over 30 million point-of-sale terminals and withdraw cash from more than 1.4 million ATMs in 170 countries & territories. The implementation will help BRAC Bank, Afghanistan broaden and deepen access to financial services in Afghanistan ; formalize its activities as a bank; further strengthen the nascent banking system and serve as a “best practice” to be followed by other banks.
