Standard Bank Group subsidiary Stanbic IBTC Bank has been awarded a licence to provide mobile payment services in Nigeria.
Stanbic IBTC is one of seven players fully licensed to operate mobile money services in Nigeria in accordance with the country's Mobile Payments Regulatory Framework. The regulatory environment offers customers protection from unscrupulous vendor practices and facilitates easy communication with the bank.
The unit says it was granted the licence because of the innovative mobile and other payment solutions developed by Standard Bank's payments innovations hub Beyond Payments. These include the e.susu (BlueSave) petty trader solution, as well as the pilot mobile payments platform Blue Cash.
Beyond Payments CEO Herman Singh says the licence “was essentially the result of a three-year journey of close collaboration between the Central Bank of Nigeria, the customer, and the agent, and well as technical teams in both SA and Nigeria”.
Stanbic IBTC Bank CEO Sola David-Borha says the unit will be able to leverage parent company Standard Bank's expertise. Standard Bank operates mobile money services in various markets in Africa, including Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and SA.
“We consider the licence as another platform and opportunity through which we can showcase our bank's ability to help customers simplify their lives, using relevant technology to make available products and services targeted at their needs. We will be launching various mobile payments products and services designed to enhance financial inclusion in the country,” David-Borha says.
Some 70 million of Nigeria's population of 158 million own mobile phones. Only a small percentage of Nigerians possess bank accounts and are increasingly using mobile phones to go online.
“In terms of the roll out of payments and financial services, Nigeria is hampered by the absence of a fixed infrastructure: from branches, ATMs and even point-of-sale devices,” notes Singh. He says cellphones will become the “transacting device of choice”.
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