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Denarii Payments Inc., an Atlanta-based company focused on stored-value products, is targeting Atlanta-area first-generation Hispanic immigrants with a mobile prepaid product similar to a bank checking account. Officially launched in February, SizzleMoney enables users to access funds, payment services and payroll distribution via mobile text messages. Using a social networking approach, any consumer or merchant with a SizzleMoney account can exchange funds for value, according to Denarii founder and CEO Donald Baggett. Users also can have their payroll funds loaded to the account. An account also includes a PIN-debit card carrying the Maestro, Pulse, Star and Cirrus electronic funds transfer network brands. Consumers can use the card in lieu of a mobile phone to make purchases at merchants that accept PIN-debit transactions and to make ATM cash withdrawals. The consumer has the option to upgrade to a MasterCard-branded prepaid debit card. Central National Bank of Enid, Okla., issues the cards, and its subsidiary Interactive Transaction Services processes the transactions. First-generation Hispanic immigrants to the United States tend to rely on mobile phones as their sole communication mechanism, which is why Denarii initially is targeting that demographic, Baggett says. Fees include 49 cents per mobile or point-of-sale transaction, $1.49 per domestic ATM withdrawal and $2.49 per international ATM withdrawal. George Peabody, director of the emerging technologies advisory service at Mercator Advisory Group in Maynard, Mass., says many immigrants are comfortable using mobile phones and text messaging for a variety of services, and introducing mobile banking is not a huge leap. "Text messaging was bigger in other global markets before it was in the U.S.," he says.
