Tunisian fintech startup Kaoun has added new features to its mobile baking app. This is following their participation in a regulatory Sandbox put together by the Central Bank of Tunisia.
The Tunisian fintech startup Kaoun was co-founded in January 2018 by Rostom Bouazizi, Nebras Jemel, and Aris Kallel after obtaining certificates from universities in the United States.
Having observed the digital baking system, the affordability, and the quality of services provided by this banking style, the team decided to pitch their financial inclusion plan in Tunisia by employing the same banking method.
The co-founders established Kaoun and launched the Flouci mobile banking app with the mission of banking the millions of unbanked adults in Tunisia, and to offer reliable alternative banking services to the already banked.
The Flouci mobile banking app brings financial solutions directly to customers by removing the stumbling blocks of cost and distance. The app offers peer-to-peer merchandizing, bill payments, and e-commerce.
The Sandbox is a new development by the central bank of Tunisia to work hand in hand with innovative startups while utilizing information on real data to transform the regulatory framework.
Kaoun is one of its first cohorts and has implemented the use of the electronic Know Your Customer process to open free banking accounts for the underbanked and unbanked.
This involves making use of a proprietary identification process that enables Strong Customer Authentication as opposed to the identification process of video interviews with banking agents. The goal is to cut down to minutes the time it takes to process and open accounts and wallets for customers.
“The national decashing strategy first starts with providing better payment tools, suited for the needs of the target populations currently excluded from these services and forced to work in the informal sector and to only use cash;”
“We realized that facilitating access to financial services with a 100 percent free banking offer opened remotely and in under an hour can help contribute to that, on top of the transfer and payment functionalities integrated with Flouci. We would like, through this collaboration with the Central Bank of Tunisia, to allow every financial institution to use this technology, and reduce the cost and time of access to essential financial services. The technology allows it, and the regulations will make it possible at scale,” Anis Kallel explained.
