It has been confirmed that MTN Nigeria will operate a Mobile Money Bank
As a result, the Central Bank of Nigeria has given its final approval for MTN Nigeria to operate a payment service bank.
Although MTN Nigeria is not able to lend money or execute foreign exchange transactions, it is now able to provide nearly all the services that are typically provided by commercial banks.
Airtel Africa Plc and MTN Nigeria Communications Plc were previously approved in principle to run a payment service bank in Nigeria in November 2021. The final permission was conditional on a number of requirements being met within a timeframe of six months. As MTN has received its own approval, this suggests that Airtel Nigeria will do so as well in the not too distant future.
Because of this, Nigeria, which has Africa’s highest number of unbanked people, has not seen the same rapid increase in mobile money usage as its regional neighbours Ghana and Kenya. According to MTN Nigeria’s mobile money service, which launched in August 2019, 9.4 million active customers have signed up for the programme since January 1.
Mobile money adoption in Nigeria is likely to rise as the number of use cases grows. As a result of MTN’s vast coverage, it will be able to serve people in rural areas and compete with commercial lenders for market share and profits.
A record 1.7 trillion ($3.4 billion) in revenue and a 45.5 percent jump in profit were achieved by MTN Nigeria, which accounts for one-third of the MTN Group’s sales. MTN Nigeria’s new banking licence is expected to let the company to take advantage of the unbanked population in Nigeria, which is a rising source of revenue for the corporation.
