Romware logs to mobile banking

SAN JOSE, US: Roamware Inc., a global leader in mobile roaming solutions, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Macalla Software Ltd, a leading developer of mobile financial services (MFS) solutions.

Macalla’s m-commerce and mobile banking solutions are successfully deployed by banks and operators around the world; these solutions include credit transfer, international remittance, person to person transactions, top-up and bill payment.  With Macalla’s acquisition, Roamware aims to build upon its roaming expertise and become a market leader in MFS, specifically addressing the needs of low income, unbanked communities across the world.

According to Juniper Research, the Service Provider market revenues will exceed US$5bn globally by 2013.  These revenues are based on the commissions and charges acquired from the gross value of money transactions derived from mobile money transfer services and remittances. Juniper Research highlights a significant opportunity for the providers and vendors of mobile money transfer (MMT) services as the market takes off, beginning as early as 2010.

“We are clearly the market leader in roaming with over 60 per cent global market share and 382 global network operators as customers,” said Bobby Srinivasan, CEO of Roamware.  “The move into mobile banking and m-commerce is a natural extension for us as it leverages our customer relationships, business partnerships and technology innovation - banking for the un-banked is a massive market opportunity for Roamware. The Macalla acquisition brings us domain expertise and a proven platform that will enable us to take a leadership position in this emerging category.”

Niall O’Cleirigh, co-founder and CEO of Macalla said: “Macalla has been a leading innovator enabling mobile money transactions across banks, remittance service providers and mobile operators.  By joining forces with Roamware, we can benefit from its global reach and relationships within the mobile community to build a true global ecosystem of mobile financial services.”

Macalla will adopt the Roamware brand and the expanded team will continue to be based out of Dublin servicing existing and new clients.