Airtel and FirstBank Sign MoU on Mobile Money Service
The landscape of e-banking services in Nigeria is set to
witness a major shift as two leading companies in banking and telecom sectors
of the economy, FirstBank of Nigeria Plc (FirstBank) and Airtel Networks
Limited have agreed to combine their strengths to provide seamless mobile money
services to millions of Nigerians.
Speaking at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) between the two companies recently in Lagos, the two companies promised
to combine their strengths to provide secure, convenient and user-friendly
mobile banking services to unbanked people throughout via mobile phones.
Mobile banking is the use of mobile phones to remotely
access bank accounts, primarily for account inquiry, mobile transfer, retail
payments, micro insurance, savings remittances, mobile top-up, utility bill
payments and government collections among others.
In his speech, The Chief Executive Officer and Managing
Director, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Rajan Swaroop, said, "Partnering First Bank
to bring mobile financial services to all corners of country further
demonstrates Airtel's commitment to Nigeria and supports the concept of
borderless mobile telecoms services across the country.
“Indeed, we are excited to partner with one of the biggest
financial institutions in the country. This partnership will, without a doubt,
assist us in realizing our vision of empowering more Nigerians with innovative
and affordable mobile financial services. At Airtel Nigeria, we are committed
to creating value propositions that will delight, enrich and benefit our
customers regardless of their income level and location.”
Commenting on the initiative, FirstBank’s Managing
Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bisi Onasanya said mobile banking is
hinged on three planks which are defined in terms of financial inclusion for
the unbanked and the underbanked, person to person transaction in terms of
sending and receiving money as well as retail payment for the purchase of goods
and services. He added that “With over 600 branches and thousands of business
partner outlets in strategic proximity to the people, coupled with over 1,500
ATMs including cash deposit ATMs, cardless and biometric ATMs, over 5million
active accounts and more than 1,200 Point of Sale terminals, FirstBank has
always been at the forefront of innovative financial services solutions. In
addition to the mobile money services, Onasanya said FirstBank has in place a
world-class IT infrastructure to drive its e-payment services across
transaction touch points. These services, according to him, include: Internet
banking services, FirstOnline, FirstBank Visa Gold Credit Card, Automated
Teller Machines (ATMs), Point of Sale Terminals (POS) FirstBank MasterCard,
FirstBank Classic Card, FirstBank Naira MasterCard and Cash Deposit ATMs
amongst others.
The Group Managing Director further assured that FirstBank
will continue to lead the innovation drive in mobile banking through
progressive and robust upgrades that will enable mobile money customers perform
actions such as salary lodgement, pension and other types of payments and
disbursements. Onasanya further affirmed that with a rich heritage,
dependability and innovative dynamism, FirstBank is naturally the best partner
for any telecom company to provide this novel initiative.
The mobile money initiative, an integral part of the broad
objectives of the FSS 20:2020 was conceived by the Central Bank of Nigeria
because of its critical nature to achieving a “cashless society which is
fundamental to the nation’s goal of becoming one of the top 20 largest
economies in the world by the year 2020.
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