Mobile money glossary
The words you meet when you launch or run a mobile money service, explained in plain language.
- E-money
- Electronic money: a digital balance that stands for cash held by the issuer. Every unit of e-money in customers' wallets must be backed one for one by real money in a protected account.
- Related: Stored-value wallets
- Float
- The e-money and cash an agent keeps to serve customers. When customers deposit, the agent's e-money float goes down and cash goes up; withdrawals do the opposite. Agents rebalance with a bank, a super-agent or another agent.
- Related: Agent & super-agent network
- KYC tiers
- Levels of customer verification. A phone number and name may open a low tier with small limits; an ID document and a selfie unlock a higher tier with larger balances and transfers. The regulator sets the limits for each tier.
- Related: Security
- Cash-in and cash-out
- Turning cash into e-money (cash-in, or deposit) and e-money back into cash (cash-out, or withdrawal), usually at an agent. Agents earn a commission on each one.
- Related: Agent & super-agent network
- Agent
- A shop or kiosk that serves customers on behalf of the mobile money provider: deposits, withdrawals, registrations and bill payments. Agents are the provider's branches.
- Related: Agent & super-agent network
- Interoperability
- The ability to send money between different providers: from one wallet network to another, or between wallets and banks. It usually runs through a national switch.
- Related: Integrations
- Trust account
- The bank account where a provider holds the customers' real money that backs all e-money issued. It is kept apart from the provider's own money and cannot be used to pay its expenses.
- Related: Reconciliation & controls
- Settlement
- The final transfer of money between parties after payments: for example, paying a merchant's takings into its bank account, or settling balances between two providers through the switch.
- Related: Merchant payments
- Payment request
- A prompt sent to a customer's phone asking them to approve a payment, usually with their PIN. Merchants and online shops use it so customers never type an account number.
- Related: Merchant payments
- USSD
- Menus that appear on any mobile phone after dialling a short code such as *123#. USSD works without data or a smartphone, so it reaches customers with basic phones.
- Related: USSD & offline
- White label
- Software delivered under the buyer's own name and brand. With a white-label mobile money platform, customers see your name, logo and colours on every app and message, not the vendor's.
- Related: White-label & global
- Reconciliation
- Checking that the records agree: total e-money in wallets against the trust account, agent float against cash, and each provider's records against the switch. Differences must be found and fixed every day.
- Related: Reconciliation & controls
The platform
Everything a wallet needs — one core, your brand.
The consumer feel of the apps people love, the breadth of a serious financial platform, and a SaaS admin that runs all of it without code.
How it works
Live in weeks, not years.
Configure your brand & country
Set your name, logo, colours, currency, language and KYC tiers in the admin — the apps re-skin instantly.
Wire your rails
Connect banks, mobile money, cards, billers, tax and telco through adapters — only what your market needs.
Launch on app, USSD & web
Ship your own apps to both stores, a USSD shortcode, and web portals — all from one platform.
Access channels
Reach every customer, however they pay.
A wallet access matrix you configure per user category — consumer, agent or merchant — across every channel.
Security & compliance
Trust is the product.
Financial services live or die on correctness and control. PesaBridge bakes both into the core.
Double-entry by construction
Every movement posts balanced debits and credits — the books reconcile to zero, always.
PIN, KYC & limits
Configurable KYC tiers, per-transaction and daily limits, PIN attempts and wallet locking.
Idempotent & reversible
Idempotency keys stop double charges; a unified reversal engine unwinds any department.
Signed webhooks
HMAC-SHA256 signatures and retries so partner systems can trust every callback.
Full audit trail
Immutable ledger entries and transaction history for regulators and disputes.
Per-country compliance
ID types, KYC rules and tariffs switch with the market, from configuration.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Buying PesaBridge
Can we start with part of the platform?
Yes. The Starter plan covers the customer and agent apps with the back office and KYC. Merchants, the developer API, USSD, lending, savings and bulk payments switch on later on the same ledger, so nothing is rebuilt as you grow.
How is PesaBridge priced?
Four ways: the Starter, Growth and Enterprise plans, or a Partnership in which you pay no licence fee and we share net revenue instead. The proposal builder on this site gives your exact price and a draft contract in about 10 minutes.
What do you need from us to launch?
A licence, or a licensed partner that holds the customer funds; accounts with the banks and payment providers you want to connect; your brand; and your tariffs. Once the provider credentials arrive, a first country usually goes live in 4 to 12 weeks.
Can we try it before we sign?
Yes. Request test access and you receive the Android apps for the products you pick, the web portals and test logins by email. Everything runs in a sandbox, so no real money moves. Developers can open a sandbox account on the developer portal at any time.
What support and training do you provide?
Every plan includes support: email on Starter, priority support on Growth, and a service-level agreement with onboarding on Enterprise. During the launch we train your back-office, support and agent-network teams, and the help hub, guides and API docs stay online for everyone.
The platform
Is PesaBridge a platform I share, or my own?
Your own. PesaBridge is a product BridgeERP resells — every operator gets their own deployment, branded and configured for them. No shared database, no shared super-admin.
Which countries and currencies are supported?
Any. Country, currency, language and KYC rules are configuration drawn from the full ISO set — not hardcoded. We have live markets today and stand up new ones without a rewrite.
Does it work on feature phones?
Yes. Over USSD, customers send, withdraw, pay bills, buy goods, buy airtime, check their balance and get a mini statement, settling on the same ledger as the apps.
Can I connect my own banks and payment rails?
Yes. Rails are pluggable adapters — banks, mobile money, cards and PSPs — so you connect only what your market needs.
How fast can we go live?
Weeks, not years. Configure your brand and country, wire your rails, then ship your apps, USSD code and web portals from one platform.
Is it secure and auditable?
Every movement is double-entry and balanced to zero, PIN- and KYC-gated, with signed webhooks and a full audit trail for regulators.
Which apps do operators and their customers get?
Six native Android and iOS apps: a User app for customers, a Send app for transfers abroad, an Agent / Super-agent app for cash-in, cash-out and float, a Merchant app to accept and settle, a Counter app for shop tills, and a Corporate app for bulk payouts with maker-checker approvals, which also runs as a web portal.
How does settlement and reconciliation work?
Funds settle to the relevant wallet in real time. Every transaction produces balanced ledger entries you can reconcile, with statements and exports, and a GL bridge for your accounting system.
Can it handle loans, savings and group finance?
Yes — overdraft credit, MFI loans with schedules and portfolio-at-risk, goal savings, and savings groups (chama / merry-go-round) are part of the platform and switch on per market.
Do you support bulk disbursement for payroll, aid or subsidies?
Yes. The Corporate portal and API run bulk disbursement to thousands of wallets with maker/checker approvals, payee books, scheduling and full reconciliation.
What does it take to run it day-to-day?
A single operator admin console runs brand, tariffs, KYC, the agent and merchant network, the ledger, reversals, support and KPIs — no code required for everyday operations.
Who owns the deployment and the data?
You do. Each operator runs their own deployment with their own database — branded and configured for them. It's a product you resell as your own, not a shared SaaS tenant.
See what your launch would cost
Answer eight short questions and get a commercial and a technical proposal for your countries and payment rails, in 10 minutes.