NOMAD
How does NOMAD work?
An individual purchases a voucher, either £20, £50 or £100 (or equivalent) and sends the secure voucher number [VIN] by text (SMS) message to their family member or friend in their home country. The recipient redeems the credit for local currency at a participating bank, post office or retailer. The low cost of redemption is making this an extremely attractive means of repatriating funds home. The service is totally secure and is device, network and operator agnostic, all the user needs is access to a mobile telephone.
By using the NOMAD system, it is now economic to send amounts as low as £20 and the product enables immediate and complete value transfer to the beneficiary avoiding the complex and often prohibitive costs and frauds associated with some of the usual remittance channels. These encrypted credits will be sold through the Internet and available at selected high street outlets.
Benefits to the users are clear. They do not need to buy new mobile phones, be contracted to any particular mobile carrier, or find the local network operator outlet, they just need to be able to receive a simple text message (SMS) and go to a participating bank or outlet. This may seem unimportant to most people but it is truly a life changing event for these peoples who live in a cash based society.
Benefits to local retailers who participate in this service include a new revenue stream from the transaction fees associated with this product and a chance to reach out to the communities they serve thereby reducing the un-banked population.