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Fintech Select Ltd. (TSX-V: FTEC) |
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January 29, 2018 Issue |
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CEOCFO MAGAZINE |
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Q&A with Mohammad Abuleil, President and CEO of Fintech Select Ltd. providing Pre-Paid Cards and Cryptocurrency Products to the Under-Banked through their POS Platforms and extensive Retail Distribution Network |
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President & Chief Executive Officer
Fintech Select Ltd. (TSX-V: FTEC)
Interview conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFO Magazine, Published – January 29, 2018
CEOCFO: Mr. Abuleil, what is the concept behind Fintech Select™? Mr. Abuleil: Fintech Select has been a leader in financial payment services for many years. The company first began with Pre-Paid wireless products, then we moved to Pre-Paid cards, where we stand now. The company services a market of millions of under-banked customers through its technology platform and extensive retail distribution network. Our Pre-Paid card programs have been deployed across multiple corporate and government organizations. The company changed its name from SelectCore to Fintech Select in August 2017 to better reflect its plans to integrate Cryptocurrency and fintech products and solutions to its existing prepaid card and POS platforms.
CEOCFO: What is the concept behind SelectCoin? How are you going to become part of blockchain? Mr. Abuleil: Cryptocurrencies and blockchain ledger transactions represent a significant shift away from the traditional elements of existing financial service providers. As we continue to expand our financial payment services to our customers, Fintech Select has been placing a great deal of importance on being at the forefront of this transition by providing robust and disruptive Cryptocurrency and blockchain solutions. We have come up with a disruptive solution that we believe will create a paradigm in Cryptocurrency accessibility. The demand on purchasing Cryptocurrencies has recently been growing fast. Unfortunately the buying or selling process has been sophisticated, long, and not easy to be performed. Operating under the brand name of Selectcoin, Fintech Select is providing its customers with a choice, convenience and a cost effective way to facilitate their financial transactions and to participate in the crypto economy these days. It makes buying and selling Cryptocurrency simple and easy for the mass consumers in Canadian market space, and eventually outside Canada. To create a Selectcoin account, a customer needs to register a Selectcoin closed loop card that could be purchased from any of our POS retail locations. During the registration process on Selectcoi.io website, the customer is required to provide his/her digital wallet address so we link the closed loop card’s unique number with the customer’s digital wallet address. Once the closed loop card is properly registered, a customer can walk into any of our POS retail locations to buy Cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin. The customer simply swipes his/her card on the POS machine, and then our backend system will take care of depositing the purchased Cryptocurrency into the customer’s digital wallet linked to his/her closed loop card with no need for any further actions by the customer.
Selectcoin makes
buying Cryptocurrencies as easy as buying a lottery ticket or a pack of gum
at any of our retail locations. CEOCFO: What are you able to bring to the table from your background in Fintech, so that what you come up with should be viewed differently from everyone else getting into this field today? Mr. Abuleil: First, we came up with a unique idea that has not been available in the market yet. We are the first company to put together such a unique solution to simplify Crypto transacting to the mass of consumers, and to compete with the Ccryptocurrency ATM machines. Second, during the last fifteen years of business, we have built a large POS distribution network by providing our Point of Sale machines to many retailers in the marketplace, where each one of these POS retailer locations can become their own Cryptocurrency exchange.
CEOCFO: What has been the reception to SelectCoin from your current retail partners and customers? Mr. Abuleil: We just have started deploying the Selectcoin solution at our POS retail locations. The initial feedback is very positive as Selectcoin provides a unique, simple, cost effective, and easy-to-access solution to the mass consumers. Retailers also benefit from each transaction they complete on the POS terminal. It’s a new product to be added to their existing products that could add value to their business and generate extra revenue as the demand of buying Cryptocurrencies is increasing daily.
CEOCFO: Are your customers receptive? What are you finding as you speak with people? Mr. Abuleil: New customers who are looking to buy Cryptocurrencies are very receptive to our solution as it makes it easy and simple for them to buy Cryptocurrencies. Having said that, the majority of customers do not have enough knowledge on digital wallets and Cryptocurrencies. An education curve needs to take place among the majority of consumers and retailers. This is where we have brochures available for customers that provide brief information on the meaning of a digital wallet and Cryptocurrency, and how customers can register their closed loop cards. We also try to educate retailers on how to sell Cryptocurrency and answer simple related questions to consumers. Selling prepaid wireless top-ups is a very straightforward transaction to retailers and customers; however, when it comes to digital wallets and Cryptocurrencies it requires a little bit more effort of education and training for both parties.
CEOCFO: How do explain to your customers what bitcoin, Cryptocurrency and blockchain entail? Mr. Abuleil: As we know, this is a new space and technology. When we setup the POS retail location to use Selection, we provide marketing materials such as posters and brochures as mentioned earlier. Posters hanging on store windows, stating that bitcoins are sold here, will get the attention of the customers. We also provide brochures that explain the main aspects of Cryptocurrency and digital wallets, and how customers can simply transact, and register online. The brochure actually describes what bitcoin is in a few statements, what digital wallets do, thus guiding the consumer. For example, they need to have a closed loop card that belongs to the company first, activate that card online, then create their own digital wallet and link this digital wallet with this closed loop card during the registration process. We are trying to educate our customers by having these brochures. We also have the information available online, which we are sure the majority of our customers have access to.
CEOCFO: Do you foresee many of your current customers switching over or perhaps newer people who want to experiment with new ideas? Mr. Abuleil: I think both. We launched our product in a public event on December 21st of last year, 2017, where anyone was able to stop by and buy Cryptocurrencies through our Selectcoin solution, and have their questions on how the whole solution works answered. We have a good reception from existing customers this far, as the solution provides an easy way to acquire and buy bitcoins. Also, we have seen the interest of new customers and people who were not able to buy Cryptocurrency through other service providers for the complication of this process, and have seen how our platform is a solution for them to easily and simply transact in Cryptocurrency.
CEOCFO: What is the cost for a business to get involved with SelectCoin? How are you set up so that it is affordable for businesses to do so? Mr. Abuleil: For now, I can say that the cost is almost zero. The existing retailers who already have our Point-of-Sale machines will have no extra cost to update their POS machines to include the Selectcoin platform, as this update can be done remotely by our IT staff. Therefore, there is no cost on both sides. For new retailers, we are offering the Point of Sale machine free; however, we are asking for a small security deposit that is fully refundable to the new retailer upon returning the POS machine to the company.
CEOCFO: Are there regulatory barriers or regulatory conditions that you need to meet or does this fall outside because it is Cryptocurrency?
Mr. Abuleil:
Unfortunately,
this is still a grey area. There are still no solid regulations as of today,
yet. However, because of our experience in Pre-Paid business, we have built
an extensive knowledge of implementing KYC (Know-your-Customer), AML
(Anti-Money Laundering) and other regulatory processes. CEOCFO: What has been the response from the investment community? Mr. Abuleil: From an investment point of view, blockchain and Cryptocurrency technology are a very hot space these days. Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies, I believe, are here to stay. Therefore, when it comes to investors and investment, I think we have seen great interest, and will see much more, as our unique solution differentiates us from other companies working in the same space. I believe that the company is currently undervalued in the marketplace when compared to its peers. The company’s market cap is in the range of twenty million dollars where other companies in the same space and similar technology have exceeded a $100 million market cap. Therefore, investing in the company might be a good opportunity if you take the possible upside of the stock price down the road.
CEOCFO: Why should people pay attention to Fintech Select? Why should they choose Fintech Select for cryptocurrency participation? Mr. Abuleil: People should choose FinTech Select because of the streamline and simplicity of buying Cryptocurrencies, the cost effectiveness, and the easy accessibility through many POS locations across Canada. All these factors make Fintech Select’s solution; Selectcoin, an attractive solution to the mass of consumers. |
“Selectcoin makes buying Cryptocurrencies as easy as buying a lottery ticket or a pack of gum at any of our retail locations.”- Name: Mohammad Abuleil
Fintech Select Ltd. (TSX-V: FTEC)
www.fintechselect.com Mohammad Abuleil President & Chief Executive Officer Email: Mabuleil@fintechselect.com Phone: 905 7520352
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Pre-paid Card Programs, Fintech Select Ltd. (TSX-V: FTEC), Mohammad Abuleil, Pre-Paid Cards and Cryptocurrency Products to the Under-Banked through their POS Platforms and extensive Retail Distribution Network, CEO Interviews 2018, Financial Companies, mobile banking solutions, cryptocurrency technologies, custom pre-paid card solutions, mobile banking platforms for peer to peer lending transactions, integrating POS platforms with digital currency, Fintech Select Ltd. Press Releases, News |
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Mohammad
Abuleil