With around 25% of the global economy involves mobile payments, Chairman of EMP Group Paul Edwards said that 2014 has witnessed a 400% increase in global mobile payment transactions, compared to 2011. During his keynote speech in the 5th Emerging Markets Payments Conference (EMPC) taking place on 26 and 27 September in Sharm El-Sheikh, Edwards stressed that the world needs more efficient and trustworthy electronic payments ecosystem, mentioning that mobile users will reach 4 billion in 2017. Governments across the region are willing to support the growth of the electronic payments market industry, Edwards said, adding that they are motivated as they realise the benefits electronic payments have on the economy and the correlation between enabling citizens to have access to electronic payments and achieving further GDP growth. The EMPC is a major event in the payment sector that brings together key decision makers from banks across the Middle East and Africa to discuss opportunities, address challenges, share experiences and introduce solutions in the electronic payment card processing industry. The panel discussions of the conference discusses what banks want from electronic payments, tomorrow's payment solutions, the role of governments in building payment ecosystems and building acceptance infrastructure for the future. The conference is organised by EMP (Emerging Markets Payments), a leading company in the electronic payment processing industry, specialising in delivering services to banks, retailers, governments and finance institutions across the Middle East and Africa. Reviewing EMP's activities, CEO of EMP's Financial Payments Solutions Division Murat Ozulku said that his company has expanded their business in 2014 to offer full financial payment solutions in addition to bank processing, mentioning that EMP has recently set up a Dubai Disaster Recovery site to best serve the long term plans of their clients. Ozulku added that the company will launch a backup data centre in Dubai in October. During his keynote speech, Ozulku said that EMP will continue to invest in technology and expand their solutions – including kicking off the online fraud management system as of next week and enhancing online, Islamic banking and loyalty solutions, adding that EMP has increased their range of commercial cards and invested in pre-paid card schemes, disclosing that they will launch instant card issuing in Cairo before the end of this year, with minimal cost to clients. Ozulku said that EMP currently has offices in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Angola, UAE, Egypt, Jordan, and South Africa, announcing that they will expand to 10 more countries in the coming year.
