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16Nov2007
Investee Company of Advance Equity gets license from the Central Bank
SEP (System for Electronic Payments) Bulgaria – an investee company of Advance Equity Holding AD – received a license from the Bulgarian National Bank to act as a system operator of a payment system on the territory of Bulgaria. The payment instrument of this new system – the mobile payment – allows for a distant access. The license has been issued by the Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Ivan Iskrov.
SEP Bulgaria is the first privately held operator of a payment system in Bulgaria. The other two system operators are the state-owned Bankservice AD and BORICA. SEP will function on the basis of an open business model, where an equal access of all participants to the system will be granted. Participants in the system will be commercial banks, mobile operators, retailers, and public institutions. Customers of this new service will be all individuals and business entities, which would be willing to make use of a convenient, modern, and speedy way for effecting their payments.
Mobile payments between bank accounts in the commercial banks, which participate in the system of SEP Bulgaria, will be effected via mobile phones. In this set-up, the mobile phones will be used as terminal devices which will initiate the payments. A high level of security is guaranteed for the payments initiation. It is based on a multi-level system for recognition, using PIN and CLIP codes for encryption of the communication channel in the GSM network.
Electronic payments via mobile phones are widely spread in Asia and USA. The convenience of use presupposes a dynamic development of the mobile payments in other parts of the world in the near future. The services provided by SEP Bulgaria, with their universality are unique for Bulgaria and among the few such in Europe. The availability for effecting payments through the mobile phones is expected to increase the share of electronic payments in Bulgaria as well as to help decreasing the size of the grey economy.
