Hi from Cape Town, South Africa, where I am on vacation, but really schlepping my wife’s bags as she presents at Design Indaba.  Still, my attention wanders to the familiar: I’m taking pictures of all the non-bank financial services centers here, which I’ll share later, and noting the financial sector serving the unbanked and underbanked.

Net1 has been a dominant African smart-card company for years.  In the mid-aughts, they tried to come to the US, but didn’t (not much of a market for smart cards given the ubiquity of mag-stripe terminals).  Recently, they imported another of their technologies to the US, through MetroPCS.  The VCPay uses Net1’s virtual account technology, issued by Bancorp, and distributed by MetroPCS.  Basically, think cardless GPR with the added advantage of never using the same “card” number twice.  Every time you make a transaction, the system will generate a new 16-digit account number, thus improving your security.  It’s a cool twist on smart-card technology and mobile payments.  Check out MetroPCS’ VCPay.