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Orange CEO says Romania is key player in mobile money plans
Romania will play an important role in Orange's strategic plans to expand the mobile financial services market, Orange's president and CEO Stephane Richard told local paper Ziarul Financiar during an interview, telecompaper.com reports. The first step of the French giant on this segment in Romania is the launch of Orange Money on the local market, which is imminent.
Richard was in the capital Bucharest during a short visit whose aim was the evaluation of Orange Romania's operations and its future plans. Richard said the company will also focus on other new lines of business such as mobile banking, which is clearly an area where Romania has a role to play. Orange has an ambitious project in this segment as well, Richard added. Orange has nearly 20 million Orange Money users in Africa and it now wants to expand mobile financial services to Europe, he further explained. Orange has a project in France to launch a "mobile bank" and it also has projects in Spain. Poland was the first country in Europe where Orange Money was released and Romania will be the next country that will launch this service and even more services, Richard said. Orange's CEO will also meet with Romania's prime minister Dacian Ciolos during his visit in the country.
In related news, Orange Romania increased the social capital of subsidiary and mobile payments company, Orange Money, by RON 10.68 million to RON 19.46 million through a capital increase operation from 21 June. Orange Romania's management announced in March it will launch this payments service in 2016. The service, which will be available in Orange stores across Romania, will be a competitor of Vodafone Romania's already launched M-Pesa service.