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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 MAY 2020 18 COMMERCIAL UnityCard: a simple way to provide emergency aid and relaunch the economy AS political leaders across the Old Continent are contemplat- ing how to best support those most in need and prepare the restart of our economies, Eu- ropean Fintechs Loyaltek and Paynovate launch the Unity Card (unitycard.eu): a prepaid card that can be used for emer- gency humanitarian aid or to specifically support certain seg- ments of the population, such as local retailers and merchants who've had to close their busi- nesses, with a view to relaunch- ing the economy. The Unity Card, which will exceptionally be free to municipalities as the first, local level of power, can be delivered anywhere in Europe in no time and avoids cumbersome logistics and administration, al- lowing for effective, ultra-target- ed, monitorable and evolutive socio-economic measures on the road to economic recovery. Already, offers have been re- quested for close to a million cards in total. As the corona curves are slow- ly but surely starting to flatten, the focus is gradually shifting towards the next challenge: re- launching the economy. While national governments and in- ternational institutions across Europe and the world are an- nouncing unprecedented crisis measures, it remains to be seen if these will be enough, and es- pecially, whether the aid can be deployed quickly enough to save those in need today. Therefore, decisive action needs to be tak- en today rather than tomorrow. With a view to this, European FinTech pioneers and veter- ans Loyaltek and Paynovate are teaming up in a unique proposal to political leaders, with the aim of offering citizens much needed and rapid financial support by means of the Unity Card. As innovative as it is useful, this debit card can be limited for use in a certain geographical area (e.g. one municipality) as well as a certain types of predetermined shops or businesses, in this case those that have been forced to close during the current crisis: hotels, restaurants, bars, hair- dressers, DIY-stores, clothes stores… As such, it is the perfect instrument to stimulate the local economy and prevent the money disappearing to foreign e-com- merce websites, being sent to family abroad, or saved. "Whether it's to support mer- chants who have had to close their business or to help a moth- er feed her children: our leaders, from municipal to national level, are looking for ways to mitigate the effects of the lockdown and prepare for a return to normal life and economic recovery," explains Robert Masse, founder and CEO of Loyaltek and expert in the field of card payments. "But time is running out, and the question arises as to how to allocate these various resourc- es as quickly and efficiently as possible, while at the same time avoiding any risks of fraud and ensuring that public money serves its intended purpose, to the extent of creating a win-win situation and benefiting society as a whole." The Unity Card can be loaded and reloaded with any desired amount of money and works just like a regular debit card on payment terminals. The validity period can be adapted in function of the needs and in- tended support. Users can check the remain- ing value thanks to a QR code on the back, while an extranet allows the issuing authority to monitor, analyze, manage and even adjust the way its cards are being used, all in real-time. And thus, once again in this crisis, it's new technologies that are offer- ing relief in a situation which at first seemed insoluble. "In a spirit of social commit- ment, our R&D teams wanted to make themselves useful against the horrors of the coronavirus. Ultimately, it's the pragmatism and the potential of this solu- tion which convinced us to set up the necessary partnerships to deploy it throughout Europe," concludes Robert Masse. "The name, which of course stands for solidarity, came nat- urally, and we have decided to offer the first 5,000 cards to each of the municipalities that want to work with it, given that they're the ones closest to the situation on the ground. Implementation costs are kept to a minimum and amount to a fraction of the usu- al costs of similar 'traditional' measures. Moreover, we do not take any margin on the transac- tions. Two years ago, we already delivered 12,000 cards to the World Food Program for hu- manitarian aid." The solution proposed has proven its worth before in Ger- many at the time of the migration crisis, when Loyaltek distributed tens of thousands of cards to lo- cal authorities to manage the al- lowances of Syrian refugees, al- lowing them to provide in their most basic needs by purchasing from local merchants. The appearance of the Unity Card can be personalised if nec- essary. It is distributed either di- rectly to the beneficiaries or by group transmission to the com- petent authority, which can then further distribute it. The payments made by citizens with the card are managed to- gether with the rest of the mer- chants' payment traffic, while cardholder support is ensured by Loyaltek or the 'customer' himself, i.e. the issuing authori- ty. THIS week, the ĠEMMA team launched its first Part 1 ebook on scams and frauds, which aims to increase the public's knowledge and awareness of po- tential scams and frauds, thus enabling everyone to take the necessary action to prevent them from being scammed with the possibility of suffering financial loss. Through this easy reading of the Little Black Book, ĠEMMA team has incor- porated 10 commandments that cover most of the various scams and frauds that one might encounter, being both traditional-based such as ad-hoc tele- phone calls as well as more technolo- gy-inspired ones which through the fre- quent use of the internet, result in the hacking and stealing of information. David Spiteri Gingell, the ĠEMMA team leader, expressed the impor- tance of compiling a series of ebooks on scams and frauds - which concept was first launched by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commis- sion in 2012 and later it was taken up by both the UK Metropolitian Police as well the Commission of Financial Ca- pability in New Zealand. He said that the Little Black Book is directed towards persons who are 16 years and over, the age where they are likely to have access to a credit card for the first time. The ebook provides use- ful and practical tips of how people can protect themselves - such as protect- ing identity, pay online using a secure payments service as well as where one can report any suspected case of fraud. Careful attention was taken in using non-technical terms and IT jargon so that the ebook is understandable by the average person. The ĠEMMA team within the Office of the Permanent Secretary falls under the remit of the Ministry for the Family, Children's Rights and Social Solidarity. Mark Musu, the Permanent Secretary, said that this ebook which ĠEMMA launched is another channel adopted by ĠEMMA to increase educational knowledge on money management. The Little Black Book of Scams and Frauds, the first of a series of other eb- ooks that ĠEMMA is launching may be downloaded for free on ĠEMMA web- site by accessing https:// gemma.gov. mt/ebook1. Registration is optional. ĠEMMA will be holding a Webinar of this ebook on 30 June 2020. Details will be announced closer to the day. GEMMA team launches first Part 1 ebook on scams and fraud