JSE-listed mobile operator, MTN Group, on Wednesday said it has appointed Sérigne Dioum to head the firm’s mobile financial services division, starting in September this year.

The appointment of Dioum, who is currently MTN Cote d’Ivoire chief marketing officer (CMO), comes at a time when MTN starts to pay more attention on “value added services.”

He has been in this position of CMO for the past five years. During this period, he has been acting GM in Mobile Money in West and Central Africa.

Dioum will be accountable for urging forward MTN Mobile Money and other linked cellphone financial services throughout the MTN footmark.

Pieter Verkade, MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer, said mobile money services are critical to the delivery of the company’s new digital world to its clients.

He described Dioum as a veteran specialist, saying the mobile firm had all the confidence in the world in his capabilities.

He said Dioum would increase the division’s expansion and remodelling for the gain of the company’s clients.

Dioum has almost 15 years of expertise in the mobile phone sector.