Mobile money transactions hit N430bn

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that mobile money transactions in the country has since inception in 2012 risen to N430 billion with N14 million transactions on a monthly basis.

Musa Itopa Jimo, head, payment system policy and oversight division of banking and payments system department, CBN, said there are

21 mobile money operators (MMO) licensed by the CBN and 78,000 agents and 15 million subscribers in the country.

Presenting a paper on overview of mobile money payments services framework in Nigeria at the ongoing 3-day workshop for business editors and members of Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) organised by Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) in Katsina State, he explained why the CBN excluded the telecommunication companies (telcos) from driving the mobile money scheme model.

One of the reasons is regulatory oversight issues predicated on the fact that telcos are not regulated by the CBN but the Nigerian Communications Communications (NCC). He said that telcos provide telecommunications and ancillary services to mobile money operators, noting that they could become dominant and prioritise transactions from other networks.

According to him, telcos were excluded because they are not deposit money banks that are licensed to partake in clearing activities, stressing that it was to avoid the duality of control of both the CBN and the telcos.

Meanwhile, NDIC has extended deposit insurance cover to subscribers of mobile money via Pass-Through Insurance (PTI) up to N500, 000 cover.

Pass-Through Insurance implies that the mobile money operators pool accounts would not just be regarded as single accounts, but that the benefits of the deposit insurance will be enjoyed by the individual subscribers/ customers of the MMO pool account.

Kingsley Nwaigwe, deputy director, research, policy and international relations department, NDIC, said each customer of the mobile money scheme as a subscriber to the MMO pool account will be covered to the insured maximum amount for deposit money banks.

According to him, PTI will encourage mobile payment system and enhance financial inclusion. It will also engender public confidence in the financial system thereby promote financial stability, he said.

Nwaigwe said that the mobile money scheme customers had transactions limit with any of the appointed agents based on the three tiered Know Your Customers (KYC)

He explained that tier 1 allows for N3,000 per transaction per customer and not more than N30,000 per day and only subscriber’s name and telephone numbers were needed, tier 2 category allows for N10,000 per transaction per customer and not more than N100,000 per day but required additional information such as identification and address while tier 3 permits N100,000 transaction per customer and not more than one million per day but more stringent KYC details are required.

Businessday