Mastercard, Mobile Money partner on CashlessAfrica Confab 2017

ITRealms:

The CashlessAfrica Conference and Expo is a platform for technology companies, FinTech’s and other financial institutions to come together and share best practices in order to build a strong economy in Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

Acclaimed digital payment solutions provider, Mastercard is partnering Mobile Money as the headline sponsor of the 6th Edition of the CashlessAfrica Conference and Expo, organised by Mobile Money Africa and scheduled for March 22 to 23, this year, at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki in Lagos.

ITRealms reports that the CashlessAfrica Conference and Expo serves as a platform for technology companies, FinTech’s and other financial institutions to come together and share best practices in order to build a strong economy in Nigeria. The event looks at the importance of rethinking current models and gaining valuable market insight to introduce relevant digital payment solutions to the benefit of all people.

The Vice President and Area Business Head of West Africa, Mastercard, Omokehinde Adebanjo, said that with over 85 per cent of retail transactions still made in cash and cheques, the potential for digital payments to make a tangible difference is immense.

This year, she said, Mastercard would participate as a keynote speaker to discuss matters impacting Nigeria and the broader continent and how partnerships will be critical to shifting economies beyond cash.

“Partnerships across multiple sectors and stakeholders is a fundamental component to ensuring cash is driven out of the system and that smart innovative, and financially inclusive, solutions are introduced,” said Adebanjo.

Principal Associate of Mobile Money Africa, Emmanuel Okoegwale said, “Our partnership with Mastercard is a demonstration of the technology company’s commitment to seeking better ways of promoting a cashless culture across here in Nigeria and globally.”

Okoegwale further stated that conference discussions will focus on carefully selected topics such as “The digital bank and its evolution in a competitive market; The future of banking, money and payments in Africa; Disruptive technologies and their impact on financial services in Africa; Balancing regulation against innovation; Remittances in the digital age; Fintechs and Banks: Collaboration or Competition? And protecting the customer in a digitized economy.”

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Mobile Money transactions hit $600m says Johnson

ITRealms:

Minister of Communication Technology, Dr Mrs Omobola Johnson has said that the country has witnessed an upsurge in mobile money transactions, insisting that Nigeria could actualise the National Broadband Plan to increase penetration rate from six per cent to 30 per cent by 2018, reports ITRealms.

The CommTech minister made this disclosure while speaking at the Pat Utomi Center for Values and Leadership celebration of the ICT sector, noted that 11 million transactions worth $600 million have been recorded under the mobile money platform.

According to her, the mobile money platform has an estimated one million subscribers under 18 mobile money operators and 67,000 registered agent.

On broadband penetration in the country, Johnson stressed that facilitating increased investments in ICT infrastructure, spectrum auctions, regional Infrastructure (fibre) companies (Infracos), Smart States initiative (to reduce cost of infrastructure deployment) were some of the priorities set by her ministry to raise 3G/LTE Wireless Broadband Coverage to 80 per cent of Nigeria’s population; and Fixed broadband to 16 per cent of population based on fibre by 2018.

“More people in Nigeria have a mobile phone than have a bank account. 75 per cent of adults living in urban areas and 39 per cent of them living in rural areas have access to a pre-paid mobile phone. 18 Mobile Money operators have been registered in Nigeria and since the commencement of operations, there are approximately 1 million subscribers, about 67,000 registered agents and Over 11 million transactions worth US$600 million have been conducted,” she said.

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Localise awareness campaign on mobile money - Uduma

Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Mrs. Mary Uduma, has called for the localization of the on-going sensitization and awareness campaign in order to reach all Nigerians.

Uduma who was represented Mrs. Emily Nwokoro, at the third Consumer Behaviour Symposium held in Lagos, Wednesday as part of the Telecom Trade Fair organized by Logica Media group in collaboration with NCC said that consumers need to be sensitized in order to eliminate suspected fears of failure of this laudable initiative.

She told participants at the event with theme “Moving Towards a Cashless Society; What Behavioural Change Expected from Telecom Consumers” that mobile money or wallet generically refers to payment services operated under the financial regulation and performed from or via a mobile device.

“It’s a mobile payment account for the customer’s convenience,” she said in her address to the occasion, adding that it takes away the need to carry cash with you.

Consumers, she said, could also make transfers, buy airtime and pay bills among others.

She said there is need for behavioural or attitudinal change in the mindset of telecom consumers towards this initiative, stressing that this requires massive sensitization and awareness creation on this project.

According to her, the perception and trust could shape the adoption of branchless banking by the consumer.

On the other hand, users of mobile money understand that one of its greatest values is not just the convenience, but the price.

She added that the use of mobile money a few times is cheaper than the usual bank transaction.

“Their perception will eventually change with the guarantee that the first few user experiences are positive and then other negative perceptions about trust and security will begin to disappear as well,” she noted.

Welcoming participants earlier in his address, the chief executive officer, Logica Group, Otunba Abiodun Ajiboye applauded participants for taking the issue of behavioural change seriously by ensuring that despite the early morning rain in Lagos, they made it to the event.

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Fortis Mobile Money promises user-friendly

The Chief executive officer, Fortis Mobile Money, Mr. Henry Nwawuba has described the recent partnership with MTN and GTBank as significant achievement, promising a user friendly platform.
Fortis Mobile Money, one of the 11 mobile money operators licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), recently said that MTN would therefore be connecting Fortis to its over 40 million mobile telephone subscribers on the network.

Describing the partnership with MTN as a very significant achievement, he said that every mobile money company in Nigeria looks ahead to the kind of access MTN provides.
“What we have achieved today is that MTN is opening up its network infrastructure to Fortis and as such it gives us the kind of access that will make the experience very user friendly for all our customers” he said.

He explained that MTN has provided Fortis Mobile Money an unrestricted access on its network to unstructured supplementary service data (USSD), which is a messaging function in GSM cell phones. According to him, unlike regular text messages, USSD messages travel over GSM signaling channels and are used to query information and trigger services.

“We are asking the company to open up their distribution channels so that their airtime distribution partners can also become agent for mobile money,” he said.
The collaboration, he said, would also give MTN access to tap into over 40 million customers as Fortis Mobile Money roll out its service.
To cope with this capacity, he said, Fortis would have to build a robust business network, though it currently plans to deploy over 50,000 agents across Nigeria in one year.
Having launched the service in Lagos, he said the company’s mobile money service would rapidly take off in other cities and states in Nigeria. “That is because without the agent network, mobile money will not work. In Lagos, we have about 420 agents. In Abuja, we have about 1000 while in Port Harcourt we have activated 200 agents”, he said.

Explaining the services that are available to Nigerians on the network, the managing director of Fortis said the company would provide basic mobile financial services such as fund transfer, deposit and withdrawal from the bank account, which can be done at an agent location in the community. Before a customer can access to these services, such a customer must have opened a mobile account.

“Once that account is opened, it becomes your wallet. Do not leave home without your mobile phone. There is cash on it. The account is not physically sitting in your phone. Your phone is just an access device just like your ATM card.  When you take your ATM card to the ATM the money is not in your ATM card. Over 40 million MTN subscribers can open cash-lite account on Fortis Mobile Money by dialing *555*”, he said.

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Gordon commends Nigeria on Mobile Money

Director-General of Ghana Advanced Information Technology Institute (AITI-KACE), the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of ICT Excellence, Mrs. Dorothy Gordon has commended Nigeria over the process of licensing the mobile money operators.

Speaking at the Mobile Money – The New Eco-system forum in Lagos, organized by the ITWorld International Magazine, Mrs. Gordon who was a special guest at the event said that the commendation has become necessary because the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is following processes to ensure that credible companies play in this emerging sector on the continent.

According to her, the Nigerian government is engaging the small and medium scale enterprises in its processes because CBN invariably discovered that those SMEs drive businesses.

She, therefore, applauded the event organizers, saying that every stakeholder is needed to contribute in making certain that the procedure of the government in launching mobile money in the country does not derail, but flourish.

Gordon also said that though some African countries like Ghana, Kenya and many others may have launched mobile money before Nigeria, but expressed optimism on the manner the CBN is handling the choice of licensees for mobile money.

As said by her, it’s true that most African countries may have experimented on mobile money before now, but it has been full of hiccups, hence she was excited with the phases which Nigeria has involved in introducing the service.

She looks forward to the licensees to take full advantage and implement the service in accordance with the CBN guidelines, recalling that the success of Kenyan Mobile Money subsector was sustained with the financial aid from international organization, for the trials and which last for over six years.

In his address to the occasion, the chief executive officer, ITWorld, Mr. Enyi Moses, noted that the decision to organize the forum on “Mobile Money: The New Ecosystem” followed an increased public interest in Mobile Money.

He said that the Nigerian public is following developments around the globe concerning Mobile Money, pointing out that in the case of East Africa where Mobile Money is a thriving business running into several billion dollars is very fresh in mind.

Mr. Enyi noted at the event presided over by the Group Chief Executive officer, Teledom Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, that no longer is Mobile Money an unproven concept since it has continued to provide millions of people around the world with access to finance and demand which have been on the rise.

“Over the next couple of years the numbers of people with access to mobile phones but no access to traditional financial services are projected to grow from 1billion to 1.7 billion,” he said, stressing that the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are poised to earn $3.7 billion in direct and indirect revenues from over 350 million clients globally.

“Whether it is for paying salaries, reimbursing suppliers, or sending remittances at home from broad, mobile money is allowing people to conduct transactions at lower cost and with greater efficiency than physical transactions,” he observed.

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NCC develops regulatory framework for mobile money

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is developing regulatory framework to support the plans by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to open the economy for the Mobile Money operators.

The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, who was represented at the occasion by the Director, Policy, Competition and International Affairs at NCC, Mrs. Lolia Emakpore, disclosed this at a one-day forum on Mobile Money – The New Eco-system, organized by the ITWorld International Magazine in Lagos on Tuesday.

He also said that the telecom regulator is putting its house in order so as to be well positioned for its contribution in ensuring that the recent window of investment through the licensing of some Mobile Money operators in the country by CBN, does not have any negative effect, but steadily adding to the burgeoning telecommunications sector success.

Juwah, while commending the organizers, said that the Nigerian market is reap for the Mobile Money, especially relying on telecommunications infrastructure.

He described Mobile Money as a veritable tool for social commerce and helps in electronic procurement purposes.

This, he said, would be a boost for mobile payment and could be leveraged on to expand the economy of most Nigerians.

“Almost every home now owns a phone, but not all have bank accounts,” he observed.

The NCC, he pointed out would soon establish a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to guide Mobile Money investment in the country.

He urged the CBN’s licensees on Mobile Money to take advantage of NCC on licensing for this operation to contribute effectively to the economy.

Noting that operators of Mobile Money in the country would be duly authorized with adequate framework to address the likes of interconnection rates and other service charges, insisting that only subscribers who have registered their Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) would have access to the latest services.

“Only subscribers who have registered their SIM would be allowed to go on this Value Added Service (VAS) – Mobile Money,” he said, assuring that NCC would ensure a seamless interpretational among relevant operators as far as this service is concerned.

Earlier, the chairman of the occasion and Group Chief Executive officer, Teledom Group International, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, expressed optimism on the proposed implementation of the Mobile Money policy between NCC and CBN.

“I have no doubt on the ability of these government agencies to make this mobile money service to our people a success,” he said.

Welcoming participants, the organizers led by the chief executive officer, IT World International, Mr. Enyi Moses, noted that the decision to organize this forum follows increasing public interest in Mobile Money, especially in the East African country of Kenya.

“The case of East Africa where Mobile Money is a thriving business running into several billion dollars is very fresh in minds,” he said.

Enyi pointed out that Mobile Money has since been proven a successful concept and has continued to provide millions of people around the world with access to finance and demand has continued to increase.

According to him, with Mobile Money, users are moving out of cash-based informal systems and are fully participating in the formal economy, making it a key way to improve livelihoods.

“The mobile phone is the newest of many vehicles used to access financial services. Current Mobile Money deployments provide person-to-business payments, like purchasing airtime top-up, or international person-to-person remittance services,” he said.

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