Mobile money could extend financial services to about 23% of Nigeria’s overall population of more than 200 million people. This is according to Gail Warrander, Economic Development Team Leader, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Nigeria.
Gail disclosed this at the Economic Intelligence Unit webinar hosted today to discuss research conducted on the theme: “Fintech in Nigeria: State of Play.”
Present at the event were Dr Babatunde Obrimah, COO Fintech Association of Nigeria; Dr Armstrong Takang, Special Adviser to the Honourable Minister of Finance; Usoro Usoro, General Manager Mobile Financial Services MTN; and Ngozi Megwa, Mastercard Senior VP Digital Partnerships, Middle East and Africa. Usoro Usoro, General Manager Mobile Financial Services MTN Patrick Akinwuntan, MD Ecobank Nigeria and Musa Jimoh, Director Payment System Management, CBN as well as Deoye Ojuroye, CFO of Providus Bank and Toki Mabogunje, President of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry also attended the webinar. Mobile Money Identified as Key to Driving Financial Inclusion
FCDO Economic Development Team Leader, Gail Warrander explained that mobile money is crucial to expanding financial inclusion in Nigeria.
“It could boost Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 12% and create 3 million jobs,” she added. Although Nigeria has over 200 million mobile subscriptions , less than 6% of Nigerians use their handsets to transact using mobile money, according to the World Bank.
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This is mainly due to strict regulations by the CBN around mobile money licenses and Payment Service Banks (PSBs). Part of the regulator’s PSB guidelines demands that telcos register a subsidiary and set up a N5.35 billion capital base before they can be awarded a licence.
Nigeria’s largest telco, MTN was granted a mobile money licence last year but has still been unable to secure a PSB licence. However, Gail revealed that after obtaining a PSB licence in August, 9mobile has today launched its 9PSB mobile money service. This would help improve access to financial services especially in rural areas and unbanked locations, as CBN’s policy mandates PSBs to operate mostly in these areas.
9PSB’s *990# USSD code will enable users to perform financial transactions from the comfort of their phones. Most rural dwellers use feature phones and therefore will easily be able to access these services.
Usoro Usoro, General Manager Mobile Financial Services MTN agreed with Gail that mobile money services by MTN as well as other telecom companies would […]
