Banks, operators to share 500,000 agent networks

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Commercial Banks, Licensed Mobile Money Operators and Super Agents announced yesterday that they have reached an agreement to fund the expansion of a Shared Agent Network to deepen Financial Inclusion.

The agreement entails an aggressive rollout of 500,000 agent networks within two years to offer basic financial services, such as Cash-in, Cash-out, Funds Transfer, Bill Payments, Airtime purchase, government disbursements as well as remote enrollment on BMS Infrastructure (BVN) to an estimated 50 million Nigerians that are currently under-banked or unbanked.

Ten licensed Mobile Money Operators and Super Agents are expected to deploy financial services agents’ outlets immediately in underserved urban and rural areas in Nigeria, with higher priority in the Northern geo-political zones where financial exclusion is most predominant.

The approved CBN-Bankers Committees’ rollout ratio is as follows: North-East 30%; NorthWest 30%; North-Central 20%; South-South 7.5%; South-East 7.5%; and South-West 5%. Some of the prequalified CBN Licensed operators include Capricorn Digital Limited, Cellulant Nigeria Limited, eTranzact Limited, Innovectives Limited, Inlaks Limited, Interswitch Financial Inclusion Services Limited, Paga Tech Limited and Unified Payments Nigeria Plc.

Commenting on the Shared Agent Network Expansion program, the Chairman of the Body of Bank CEO, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, CEO of Access Bank Plc said; “This agreement reflects our commitment to aggressively pursue the CBN 2020 Financial Inclusion target in an integrated way with minimal systemic risk to the financial system. This initiative will also generate over 500,000 new jobs over the next two years.