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Washington, D.C., July 10, 2013
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is investing $7 million in SafetyPay, a company that through its secure payment system gives people in Latin America access to the lower prices and increased efficiency of online commerce.
SafetyPay enables consumers who may not have a credit card to buy online goods and services using their bank account. Merchants who use the system benefit from an expanded customer base and SafetyPay’s low transaction fees. Banks can offer their customers an attractive new service and generate revenues from their online banking facility, without any additional investment.
“In many developing countries people do not have access to credit cards and have—until recently—not been able to make online purchases,” said SafetyPay CEO Manuel Montero. “With the financial support of investors such as IFC, we are continuing our aggressive growth strategy to partner with banks and companies to give more consumers in Latin America access to our services”.
SafetyPay, headquartered in Florida, was launched in Peru in 2007 and is active in Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, and Colombia. The company currently has partnerships with 84 banks in Latin America, and with many of the region’s leading firms, including Groupon, Peruvian Airlines, Volaris Airlines, and Despegar.
“Online commerce increases price transparency, lowers transaction costs, and enhances export opportunities”, said Kent Lupberger, IFC Global Head of Telecommunications, Media, and Technology. “SafetyPay is playing an important role in giving more people access to online commerce, and we look forward to supporting their continued growth”
Latin America has a fast growing e-commerce market. Total online retail sales in the region grew from $8 billion in 2006 to $43 billion in 2011, with an average annual growth rate of 41%.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, mobilizing capital in international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments. In FY12, our investments reached an all-time high of more than $20 billion, leveraging the power of the private sector to create jobs, spark innovation, and tackle the world’s most pressing development challenges. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
About SafetyPay
SafetyPay is a real time online-banking payment solution that enables hundreds of millions of consumers to shop from merchants worldwide and pay directly from their bank account in their local currency. The SafetyPay solution is available in the USA, Europe, Canada and Latin America. SafetyPay guarantees no fraud and no chargebacks while supporting mobile, call center applications, e-invoices, pay-outs and promotions. To learn more about SafetyPay, visit
http://www.safetypay.com
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