TNM introduces debit card

Mobile money service provider TNM Mpamba on Wednesday launched a Mastercard debit card, enabling its customers –even those without bank accounts–to make safe and seamless in-person and online digital payments.

The card will work like any other bank ATM.

Dubbed ‘Khadi Mbambande’, the card is expected to enhance financial inclusion and improve access to the digital economy.

Powered by National Bank of Malawi (NBM), the physical Mastercard debit card is linked to the TNM Mpamba mobile money wallet, giving customers new ways of accessing and paying for products and services at the millions of retail locations that accept Mastercard in Malawi and abroad.

Customers can also withdraw funds from ATMs, as well as use the card in similar manner to the Mastercard virtual Khadi Mbambande payment solution to have access to an array of online services like Netflix, Facebook advertising and popular online shopping platforms like Amazon.

Convenience is a key advantage of the debit card as customers can easily manage and track finances, as funds are adjusted directly against a customer’s Mpamba wallet with an electronic record of every transaction carried out.

NBM National Payments Director Frazer Mdwazika said, at the launch, that the solution will accelerate efforts towards deepening financial inclusion and economic activity.

“With the TNM Mpamba Mastercard debit card, there is now certainty to add over nine million people to the national payments system in one fell swoop. Such a development has potential to instantly revolutionise the country’s financial services sector, as millions of people become financially included in one go,” Mdwazika said.

TNM Chief Executive Officer Arnold Mbwana said the Mpamba Mastercard debit card is one of the outcomes of the company’s long-term investments in mobile technology and systems and aims to further improve the capacity of Malawi’s national payments ecosystem.

“The introduction of a Mastercard debit card is part of TNM Mpamba’s ongoing programme to provide more people with access to financial services and tools that will simplify their lives,” he said.

The rollout of the TNM Mpamba Mastercard payment solutions plays a key role in advancing Mastercard’s worldwide commitment to financial inclusion to bring a total of one billion people, and 50 million micro and small businesses, into the digital economy by 2025.

SOURCE: THE TIMES GROUP