Stanbic IBTC Bank – a member of Standard Bank Group- and MTN have signed an agreement to provide mobile money services to Nigerians.
Chief Executive Officers of the two organisations said the partnership represented a major step in Nigeria’s e-payment segment and will facilitate the provision of “secure, convenient and user-friendly” mobile money services to millions of people across the country. The signing took place at MTN’s Lagos office recently.
MTN Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer, Brett Goschen said MTN’s partnership with Stanbic IBTC Bank was in line with the telecommunications company’s promise to empower its customers by providing them with improved services and more innovative applications. According to Goschen, “Deployment of the mobile money service in Nigeria is gradually changing the process of managing financial transactions in the country. We are proud to partner with Stanbic IBTC Bank on facilitating this positive change”
MTN’s CEO added that while mobile money opens up a wide range of benefits and value added services to the banked sector, including corporate, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and individual customers, it also brings banking services to the previously unbanked.
Managing Director of Stanbic IBTC, Mrs. Sola David-Borha, said the partnership would offer the bank MTN’s nationwide platform, help provide mobile payment services and in the process break down the “traditional barriers” hindering financial inclusion of millions of unbanked Nigerians. She expressed the company’s pleasure and goal regarding the development stating:
“We are very pleased to partner with MTN on this strategic initiative. Our goal is to increase access to mobile money service through this platform by providing an entry point for people that would not ordinarily come into banking halls. The partnership will also provide the banked with an alternative to handling physical cash by getting them to do basic transactions using the mobile banking network. We are leveraging on our banking expertise, the large subscriber base of the MTN network and the knowledge users have of the mobile phone to deliver non-traditional, low cost financial services to all Nigerians, unbanked artisans, traders, market women and farmers among others, as well as under-banked individuals.”
The mobile money initiative, a wave sweeping through the African continent, is an integral part of the objectives of Nigeria’s vision 20:2020. It was conceived by the country’s apex bank, Central Bank of Nigeria, as a result of its critical nature to achieving a cashless society which, is fundamental to the nation’s goal of becoming one of the top 20 largest economies in the world by the year 2020.
