MTN, Airtel begin formal PSB operations in Nigeria

. Firms adopt Momo, Smartcash as nomenclature

FOLLOWING the final approval for a Payment Service Bank ( PSB) licence granted by the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN), MTN Nigeria’s fintech subsidiary, Momo Payment Service Bank ( Momo PSB) Limited, formally commenced operations yesterday, the firm has disclosed.

MTN said this follows a successful pilot initiated on May 16, 2022, which was in commemoration of the launch of MTN’S GSM operations on May 16, 2001 and listing by introduction on the Nigerian Exchange Limited on May 16, 2019 and a key milestone in delivering the company’s Ambition 2025 strategic priorities.

Also, in a stock market statement, Airtel Africa announced subsidiary Smartcash PSB had started providing services through selected retail outlets with plans to expand across Nigeria in the coming months.

Airtel Africa secured a full Payment Service Bank licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) through its subsidiary in April, having received an inprinciple approval in 2021.

MTN informed that a market activation took place yesterday, at Oke- Arin market in Marina, Lagos, where traders were shown how to open a Momo wallet, by simply dialing * 671# on any network, send money to any mobile phone in the country as well as buy airtime/ data and pay bills.

The telecommunications firm said in addition to delivering a wide range of digitised payment services aimed at removing the friction from everyday payment by digitising cash payment,

Momo wallets in the future will also enable account holders to receive inbound remittance from any country in the world, an important feature given Nigeria’s ranking as the destination for the highest remittance inflow in

Sub- Saharan Africa.

With an expansive agent network of over 166,000 active agents and digitised partnership infrastructure,

MTN claimed that Momo PSB is poised to enable milli ons of unbanked and underserved Nigerians to access a wide range of financial service products.

MTN stressed that Momo

PSB will scale its agent network to reach Nigerians across the country, providing a wide range of payment services, and remove friction from everyday payment by digitising cash payment.