Anam Rolls-out SMS Money Transfer to North American Wireless Carriers

CTIA Las Vegas NV, April 1 2008 l Anam Mobile today unveiled a service that will allow global money transfers via SMS as a new value-added service for North American wireless carriers. SMS Money Transfer allows consumers to send money to people in their contact list using a simple three-step procedure. Firstly the user writes an SMS that begins “#cash” followed by the amount they wish to send and selects the person they want to send it to from their address book. Then the system confirms the transaction and asks for the sender’s PIN. When the PIN is entered correctly the money is

instantly debited from the sender’s bank account as a virtual ATM transaction and simultaneously credited to the bank account of the recipient.

SMS Money Transfer is appropriate to a wide variety of user cases. For example the service could be used by parents to send emergency funds to their children at college. Similarly it could be used by migrant workers to send money back to relatives in their home countries. The service could even be set up to pay bills or invoices for work transactions.

Gerry McKenna, CEO of Anam said, “Following the interest that we have had for the service in Europe, we believed it was time to launch the service to North American carriers. The key to this service is that it delivers a lot of value to consumers but does not require them to alter their behaviour; it just means that people can now do more with SMS. With the right support from the carrier, SMS Money Transfer could become a significant new service for them.”

In contrast to other novel data services which promise to create new revenue streams, SMS Money Transfer only requires the end-user to be familiar with SMS, which reduces barriers to entry and increases the likelihood of the service being used. Anam’s dedication to value-added SMS services allows wireless carriers to propose new services without altering their customers’ cellular behavior, creating immediate results with additional revenues.