Somali firm plans biometric money transfer scheme

The chairman of a Somali company called the First Somali Bank (FSB) has revealed plans to launch a biometrics-backed money transfer scheme that would allow remittance cash to still reach the country.

Liban Egal told Reuters that he plans to launch a technology in May that will help remittance firms track transfers and identify who picks up the cash, using fingerprint, photo and other identification.

FSB was set up in 2012 but has yet to secure a full commercial banking licence from Somalia’s central bank.

Western banks are hesitant to allow transfers into the country over fears that it may be channeled to Islamic groups like Islamist al Shabaab.The banks also say that an informal identity system leaves them vulnerable to regulatory fines, as they cannot prove who exactly picks up the money inside Somalia.

“We are betting that if we show this system to a (foreign) bank and say ‘now we know who is sending the money’, then the risk assessment people (at the bank) might look twice,” he told Reuters on Thursday in Nairobi.

Egal’s planned biometric platform would involve a fingerprint scanner, bought from a firm in India, and a CamelCash smartphone app that is owned and developed by FSB.