The Mobile Money (MoMo) payment service bank (PSB) has commenced commercial operations in Nigeria.
The telecom notified its shareholders and the investigating public about the new development through the corporate disclosure signed by Uro Ukpanah the company’s secretary.
This comes after a successful pilot initiated on 16 May 2022, in the commemoration of the lunch of the company’s GSM operations on May 16, 2001and the listing by introduction on the Nigerian Exchange limited on the 16 of May 2019.
A market activation took place on Thursday 19 May 2022, at an ok-Arin market in Marina, Lagos, where traders were made to know how to open a MoMo wallet, by simply dialling *671# on any network, send money to any mobile phone in the country with buying airtime/data and also pay bills.
MTN Nigeria says this is a key milestone in delivering the company’s Ambition 2025 strategic priorities. The fintech payment service bank (PSB) is placed to enable millions of unbanked and underserved Nigerians to access a broad range of financial service products with an expensive agent network of over 1666,000 agents and a digitalised partnership infrastructure. According to Toriola, MoMo, PSB will extend its agent network to reach Nigerians across the nation, by providing a wide range of payment services and removing friction from regular payment.
According to Usoro Usoro the CEO of MoMo PSB, ” providing an easy to use accessible and affordable financial services to all Nigerians is essential to executing the CBN’s financial inclusion strategy and the digital inclusion agenda of the minister of communications and Digital Economy. We look forward to playing our part and are excited about the opportunities to partner with relevant institutions across various sectors to co-create and expand access nationwide.”
In addition, the telco says, MoMo wallets in the future will also enable Nigerians with account holders to send and receive money from any country in the world, “an important feature given Nigeria’s ranking as the destination for the highest remittance inflow in Sub-Saharan Africa”.
MTN Nigeria initially announced its steps in the process to its final approval of licence saying that it was subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions as fixed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). With the licence being offered by the bank, MTN Nigeria will proffer a wider range of mobile financial services beyond the usual person to person mobile money transfers, such as lending and bill payments.
According to the CEO of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola stated that “We are grateful to the central bank of Nigeria for their support and guidance through the process. This is an important milestone for MTN Nigeria in our mission to support the delivery of financial services to everyone in Nigeria. Not just those in urban centres and markets, but as well people in rural and remote areas of the country who remain excluded from the financial system”.
The MoMo bank will boost its already flourishing fintech business, which is rising rapidly into its most rewarding market.
For the first quarter of 2022 In the current reporting, MTN Nigeria’s fintech revenue rose by 46.7% on the back of the growing adoption of fintech services and an expanded user base.
MTN’s MoMo agent network has continued to expand, with more than 800 000 registered agents and over 166 000 active agents across the Nation.
