The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has licensed Globacom’s MoneyMaster PSB, to foster the inclusion of millions of unbanked and under-banked Nigerians into the financial services ecosystem.
The introduction of the PSB became expedient as 79 million Bank accounts were yet to duly register for their Bank Verification Number (BVN) out of the 133.5m bank accounts in Nigeria according to figures released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), creating a huge gap among Nigerians in need of PSBs like MoneyMaster.
In a press statement released in Lagos on Monday, Globacom “our over-arching business objective remains to empower Nigerians by providing them with unlimited opportunities. MoneyMaster extends that objective as it targets the unbanked and under-banked with G-Kala its flagship product in order to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria.”
Alongside other PSBs, MoneyMaster PSB will facilitate payment and remittance services within Nigeria, accept deposits from individuals and small businesses, issue debit, and prepaid cards, operate electronic wallets, in bound remittances, and carry out other services in line with CBN regulations. However, they are unable to grant loans to customers like commercial banks.
The Glo-owned PSB enjoys the advantage of the network’s pan-Nigeria spread and extensive partner footprint in the rural and urban areas to achieve its objective of widespread roll-out.
Globacom which revolutionized the telecom industry with cutting-edge technology and unique products in 2003 also plans to position MoneyMaster PSB to reconfigure the payment service banks’ landscape as it provokes financial inclusion in Nigeria.
Said Globacom, “One key feature of MoneyMaster’s G-kala product is that the customer’s phone number will be used as his or her account number. We are grateful to the CBN for the opportunity to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria using our cutting-edge technology and vast network”.