BAGHDAD: Zain
Group, the leading mobile telecom innovator in eight markets across the Middle
East and Africa, announces that Zain Cash, its award-winning mobile wallet,
money transfer, electronic bill payment, and funds disbursement service in Iraq
will introduce a revolutionary EyePay Cash platform enabling refugees to
cash-out their financial assistance via iris identification.

The program has
been developed by Zain Cash in partnership with United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and IrisGuard, a UK-based electronic payment
solutions company and the leading supplier of end-to-end iris recognition
biometric technology, to ensure the highest level of protection against fraud
and improved accountability in transferring cash assistance to the
beneficiaries of UNHCR.

Currently over
120,000 vulnerable families in Iraq and approximately 30,000 refugees in the
country receive cash support via UNHCR, with the agency disbursing over $60
million through its partners in 2018 alone. The introduction of iris technology
for payment of cash assistance will improve identification accuracy, efficiency
and speed as it is the most accurate, fast and secure biometric personal
identifier available today. 

Only the entitled
refugee will be able cash-out without any need for any other identification
tools, it massively reduces fraud and as such, the much-needed aid is provided
to those who it is intended for. It is worth mentioning that UNHCR has in place
a high level of security and encryption for its registration data. A
streamlined disbursement process will significantly aid UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in Iraq who are targeting more than 1 million
displaced Iraqis and refugees for cash assistance in 2019.

Ayman Gharaibeh,
UNHCR Iraq Representative said, "UNHCR always looks for new and improved
technologies that can help enhance protection services to refugees, including cash
assistance. We have been utilizing iris scan technology to facilitate
assistance in the MENA region - in Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt - and it has
proven to be a most effective and efficient channel. Iris scan reinforces the
dignity of the beneficiaries ensuring their identity through their iris and
thus is fraud free. UNHCR is glad that Zain Cash is taking the lead in rolling
out the use of iris scan technology in Iraq in cooperation with
IrisGuard."

Commenting on the
adoption of the EyePay Cash platform in Iraq, Zain Cash CEO, Yazen Altimimi
said, "Zain has a strong commitment to the people of Iraq and its
residents. We are steadfast in our desire to play an important role in the
socio-economic development of this great nation, and as such our  collaboration with UNHCR and IrisGuard allows
us to return greater dignity, privacy and ensure financial inclusion of
vulnerable people throughout Iraq, and we expect the streamlined disbursement
of critical cash assistance to these in need will have a marked and immediate
positive impact on their lives."

Imad Malhas,
Founder and CEO at IrisGuard commented, "We are proud to be leading the
way in providing financial inclusion for vulnerable populations in the blink of
an eye. We are delighted to be partnered with Zain Cash and the UNHCR providing
a reliable, 100% accurate solution which removes risks, increases beneficiary
privacy, improves speed and ultimately ensures that those who need it receive
aid faster and in a more secure way."

By integrating
the iris technology in the registration and cash-out of assistance to refugees,
the disbursement process is set to become more streamlined and secure and quick
in comparison to previous process which took over 15 days. The on-boarding
process for iris biometric capture is fast and simple - the IrisGuard imager
captures a greyscale image of the iris, converting it to a reliable and
permanent Unique Verifiable Identity (UVI) that is used for cross-matching
purposes. IrisGuard's EyePay Phone is the first of its kind; and capable of
authenticating identity on a global scale within 3 seconds.  This new smartphone combines IrisGuard's
expertise in iris recognition technology with mobile capability,
providing the world's only
one to millions iris comparison in real-time.

IrisGuard was
founded in 2001 and is a UK-based electronic payment solutions company and the
leading supplier of end-to-end iris recognition biometric technology for
large-scale deployments, focused on managing trusted human identity
requirements for large populations. Zain Cash was launched in late 2015 by Zain
and Iraq Wallet, allowing users to deposit, withdraw, transfer money and pay
for goods and services via their mobile phone. The service was subsequently
chosen by UNHCR as a disbursement mechanism for refugees in Iraq.