- Title: MTN Nigeria launches money transfer service
- Date: 30th August 2019
- Summary: ABUJA, NIGERIA (AUGUST 29, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF MTN MOBILE MONEY OPERATIONS TEAM HOLDING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) GENERAL MANAGER, MOBILE FINANCIAL SERVICES, USORO USORO, SAYING: "For a country the size of Nigeria we need an estimated half a million agents for us to effectively distribute financial services and we all know if we look around our country today, that's a farfetched number, and so part of what the main thrust of mobile agent service is to roll out a pervasive agent network that will at least ensure that we bring financial services to your neighbourhood." VARIOUS OF MTN REPRESENTATIVE SEATED WITH SHIRT INSCRIPTION READING (English) 'SEND AND RECEIVE MONEY AT MOMO AGENT' VARIOUS OF MTN TENT DISPLAYING MTN PRODUCTS VARIOUS OF BILLBOARD WITH MTN ADVERT (SOUNDBITE) (English) GENERAL MANAGER, MOBILE FINANCIAL SERVICES, USORO USORO, SAYING: "The big problem why people don't have access to financial services is the problem of reach, right? It’s not the financial services itself, but the big problem is that you have to solve the problem of reach and ensure that you can distribute and extend financial services to the last part, what momo agent service will do for these customers is once you have an agent within five minutes of your neighbourhood you can have access to this rich bouquet of financial services that exist today." VARIOUS OF CULTURAL DANCE PERFORMANCE AT THE LAUNCH VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WATCHING PERFORMANCE
- Embargoed: 13th September 2019 12:32
- Keywords: mobile banking mobile money Safaricom's M-Pesa Africa's biggest telecoms group
- Location: ABUJA, NIGERIA
- City: ABUJA, NIGERIA
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA001AUETYZB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Nigeria's biggest telecoms firm MTN has launched a mobile money transfer service, targeting those without bank accounts, and said on Thursday (August 29) it plans to become a payment services bank once it obtains approval from the central bank.
The success in east Africa of M-Pesa, the mobile money unit of Kenya's Safaricom, has convinced investors and the industry that financial services are the next growth area for the telecoms sector, where prices for basic services are falling.
Nigeria said last year it would allow telecom companies to provide banking services, aiming to give millions of Nigerians without bank accounts access to mobile money services.
"For a country the size of Nigeria we need an estimated half a million agents for us to effectively distribute financial services and we all know if we look around our country today, that's a farfetched number, and so part of what the main thrust of mobile agent service is to roll out a pervasive agent network that will at least ensure that we bring financial services to your neighbourhood," said Usoro Usoro who heads MTN's Mobile Financial Services division.
MTN Nigeria was awarded a licence by Nigeria's central bank in July to provide financial services.
Majority owned by South Africa's MTN Group, the company runs Nigeria's biggest mobile phone network serving around 56 million people.
More than half of Nigeria's population of 180 million do not have a bank account.
"The big problem why people don't have access to financial services is the problem of reach, right? It’s not the financial services itself, but the big problem is that you have to solve the problem of reach and ensure that you can distribute and extend financial services to the last part, what momo agent service will do for these customers is once you have an agent within five minutes of your neighbourhood you can have access to this rich bouquet of financial services that exist today," Usoro added.
Shares in MTN Nigeria, which was listed on the local bourse in May, fell 1.49% to 144.50 naira on Thursday, valuing the telecoms firm at 2.95 trillion naira ($9.64 billion).
MTN Group appointed Rob Shuter as chief executive in 2016 to oversee the formulation of a new strategic growth plan and look for new revenue streams as competition and regulation hit profit margins.
Shuter, who has previous banking experience, has been revamping Africa's biggest telecoms group, seeking returns in everything from financial services to music and video games.
($1 = 305.9000 naira)
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