BROOKFIELD, Wis.—Absa Regional Operations (ARO) has moved to Fiserv to support credit card management and processing in nine African nations, Fiserv announced.
“What started as a program to enable Absa to separate its card platform from Barclays PLC has resulted in ARO taking bold steps to remodel its business for increased agility and growth as it serves customers in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia,” Fiserv said.
“Fiserv provided us with a flexible and scalable solution that meets local requirements across Africa, enabling us to achieve separation from Barclays PLC within our agreed timeline while preparing to support growing card usage in the region,” said Vimal Kumar, chief executive for retail and business banking, ARO in a statement. “The collaborative effort of our teams exceeded our expectations, and I look forward to our continued partnership. I am confident that our platform choice will enable us to fast track the digitalization of our credit card business, which is key to building our customer franchise.”
Economies of Scale
According to Fiserv, Absa is utilizing FirstVision, a managed services solution that enables global processing economies of scale with integrated capabilities, such as risk management and loyalty programs, that span the card issuing lifecycle. The solution’s service-oriented architecture and open APIs facilitate rapid application development, enabling new capabilities to be brought to market more quickly, Fiserv added.
“We wanted a technology partner that was committed to the success of the African continent. Our values at Absa demand customer centricity, and technology platforms are critical for us to achieve this goal. We are confident that the card issuing platform provided by Fiserv will enable us to provide cost effective and innovative products to our customers,” said Manoj Puri, chief information officer, ARO.
Fiserv said the timely implementation of FirstVision was achieved using a virtual team model based on proven Fiserv conversion methodologies, as the ongoing pandemic required remote operations.