Written by Ibrahim Chonoko, London Saturday, 03 December 2011 05:00
A UK-based company, Mobile Union Ltd has launched an online money transfer service that offers "flexible and convenient service" to people wishing to send money to Nigeria.
Known as MT Xpress, the service also promises to offer "secure, instant and confidential money transfer between the UK and Nigeria at anytime".
Speaking at a press briefing in London, Mobile Union co-founder, Steven Faulkner said the company's global technology platform and the extensive branch network of its Nigerian ally, Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB), ensures that "money can be sent to the heart of communities across Nigeria within seconds".
"We want to establish MT Xpress as the provider of choice for people sending money home to Nigeria. Our low fees means that MT Xpress offers great value, especially for smaller transactions", he added.
Mr Faulkner said the service, which is regulated by UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) and approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) offers bank-grade security and allows customers to send money online or make account-to-account transfers without the need to visit a location-based retailer.
He, however, explained that to use the service, customers must register with the company to authenticate the identity of the senders so as to guard against fraud, stressing that after registration, customers would now be able to send money using their debit cards or any online banking service offered by UK banks.
He further explained that all transactions are automatically tracked online, and money would only be released to the beneficiary after identity authentication and transaction verification at ETB branches, and expressed Mobile Union's intention to provide Nigeria to UK remittance service to provide an avenue for sending money to thousands of Nigerian students in the UK.
Also speaking, Mr Winston Bell-Gam, who is also a co-founder of the company said, "Nigeria is one of the world's top receivers of remittances", adding that with millions of people in the country using mobile phones, "there is an opportunity for using technology to promote financial inclusion and build links between members of the Diaspora and community projects in their home country."
Mobile Union Ltd has been operating MT Xpress service in Bangladesh and Nepal since March 2010, and the launch of the service for Nigeria "aims to bring the same speedy, secure service combined with a strong corporate social responsibility mandate to Africa", Bell-Gam added.
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