Mobile Money Operators Prepare to Roll Out Financial Services
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Shut out by the formal banking sector for years, the un-banked and un-served communities in Nigeria will soon gains some respite as mobile money operators are preparing to roll out innovative solutions geared towards providing financial inclusion in the coming months.
This is following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) recent issuance of operating licenses to 11 mobile firms. The firms include: Fortis Money, UBA/Afripay, GTBank Mobile Money, Pagatech, eTranzact, Monetise, Eartholeum, Paycom, FET, Ecobank and Kudi. With about 67 percent of Nigeria’s adult population never been banked, and a meagre 30 percent of the adult population with a bank account, the pain still resides in the neck of financial institutions experts to look for feasible means to foster financial inclusion and aid the unbanked.
Mobile payments through cell phones, however has been identified as a feasible tool to provide basic financial services to millions of unbanked populations in urban and rural communities in Africa, and will become a booming industry in the country, industry analyst told Business Day. Nigeria’s only micro finance Bank granted mobile payment approval by CBN is actively deploying FUNDAMO, the world’s largest specialized mobile banking and payment software solution provider to deploy its mobile money offerings throughout Nigeria in a country of 140 million people and only 28 million Bank accounts and 70 million mobile subscribers. Fundamo, a VISA company actively covers the whole of Africa, South America, Mexico, North America, and Pakistan.
FORTIS Mobile Money leverages on the understanding of bottom of the pyramid to provision low value and high volume business opportunities that mobile financial services brings to the huge Nigerian population that is currently underserved or do not have any formal access to basic financial services. FORTISMONEY offering will enable the organization deliver secure, convenient and easily accessible financial services to consumers, such as mobile money transfers, remittances, mobile bill payments, micro savings and pre-paid cell phone service top up services.
