Telecom operator MTN Nigeria Communications PLC has been granted permission to offer financial services by Nigeria’s central bank
The license comes after reforms by Nigeria’s central bank last October, which allowed telecommunications operators to obtain mobile money and banking licenses in an effort to boost financial inclusion and facilitate the long-standing ambition of a cashless society.
The Nigerian reforms now allow telecoms operators like MTN attempt to tap into the promise of mobile money to offer similar services locally.
As the most populous nation in Africa and home to a large population of unbanked adults, Nigeria remains an attractive prospect, given the success of mobile money services in other parts of the continent.
MTN Nigeria CEO Ferdi Moolman confirmed on Monday that the company’s Yello Digital Financial Services Limited (YDFS) unit had been granted a ‘full super-agent’ license by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
In MTN’s case, its longstanding status as Nigeria’s most dominant telecoms operator means it will have a pool of 67mn users to offer its services. And there’s room for significant upside in the near future too with Nigeria predicted to add 31mn mobile subscribers by 2025.
