Mutual issues green card

Old Mutual Namibia this week joined the retail side of financial services when the life insurer introduced its own version of a Visa shopping card, the OMCard. At the launch, Old Mutual said its OMCard carries no fixed fees or hidden costs and offers a myriad of free everyday transactional services. It rides on the banking license of Bank Windhoek, Old Mutual’s back-office partner to operate the OMCard. “Our passionate commitment to ensuring that we offer our customers value, peace of mind and ease of doing business with us, is the birthplace of the OMCard,” said Sakaria Nghikembua, Managing Director: Old Mutual Short-term Insurance Company of Namibia & Old Mutual Namibia Group Executive explained the OMCard as the ‘development of a product that is sufficiently scalable and flexible to respond to the needs and lifestyles of future customers. “Old Mutual is not a bank. We do not have a banking license and banking is not what our business is. We needed a banking partner for this. And we found a progressive, forward-looking and like-minded partner in Bank Windhoek” he said.

Chris Matthee, Acting Managing Director of Bank Windhoek reiterated the uniqueness of this partnership between Old Mutual Namibia and Bank Windhoek, “Some industry players would never have predicted that two competitors in the financial services environment could work together towards a common goal, but the successful public launch of the co-branded Visa debit card is tacit proof of our commitment to work with like-minded partners to improve access to financial services.” Old Mutual said “As a distinct first in the Namibian insurance industry, the OMCard is a prepaid debit card that behaves like a credit card.OMCard offers free person to person money transfers via mobile phone; free point of sale card swipes, easy airtime and safe online purchases; card ‘ON’ or card ‘Off’ switches controlled by mobile phone; and a fully-fledged transactional account supported by Bank Windhoek. It can be used at all Visa points across the world. The OMCard is free to Old Mutual policy holders and at a monthly cost of N$19.99 to non-policy holders.