SimbaPay unleashes Pan-African remittances chatbot
London-based SimbaPay has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbot service to offer international money transfers via an SMS.
The chatbot will also enable 24/7 instant customer service for its customers across Africa and Europe.
Daniel Howard, CTO for SimbaPay, says: “Another major objective we achieved with the chatbot service is that it also works without internet. This means customers with a mobile phone, even a basic phone without internet access, can access the SimbaPay chatbot using SMS.”
Together with Interswitch, SimbaPay says its B2B division offers its instant remittance technology to banks and telcos who want to provide their customers with the service.
To send money with an SMS users need the recipient’s phone number and the chatbot will automatically obtain the recipient bank account or mobile money details.
Recipients can choose whether to get their cash delivered to their mobile money wallet (e.g. M-Pesa, MTN Money, Airtel Money) or their bank account.
In some instances, recipients may not have a smartphone or internet data bundles or airtime credit. To address this, SimbaPay says its chatbot is accessible through free of charge SMS.
The chatbot service is also accessible on SimbaPay’s social media channels including Facebook.
Last month SimbaPay received an undisclosed investment from Katapult, a Norwegian-based social impact fund.
Interswitch serves over 22 banks and three telcos in Kenya, managing a portfolio of over one million cards, an agency network and a suite of bank ATMs.
