By Isaiah Onwuanumba
THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced it will issue more mobile money licences in an effort to streamline the process and deliver more options to Nigerians.
THE Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced it will issue more mobile money
licences in an effort to streamline the process and deliver more options
to Nigerians.
The Deputy Director of Domestic Payment Division of CBN, Emmanuel
Obaigbona, said that the move is to assist banks in their ability to
move the programme forward, which officially began on 1 January.
Obaigbona added in a statement that the aim is to broaden the overall
participation in mobile money system, in general, and the cash-less
policy in particular.
He added that ‘the apex bank has already licensed 11 mobile operators
who successfully passed the pilot studies conducted for them last year.
‘The 11 licensed operators are not the end of the list. The CBN intends
to license more operators to meet the set standards for operating
mobile money services in the country,’ Obaigbona said.
He continued to say that the apex bank’s decision to issue the mobile
money licence ‘was to reduce the unbanked population to the barest
minimum and subsequently develop the economy.’
Still, the move has many analysts worried that it could create too many
restrictions in the country, especially after the central bank barred
telecom operators from promoting any specific mobile money product.
According to a Lagos-based telecom analyst, Asamoa Hiran: ‘I am a bit
concerned that this will open the market up too wide and destroy
companies and peoples’ ability to understand what they are participating
in right now.’
He told the media that there is ‘too much confusion right now to really
understand what is going on, so we are all waiting to see what the
future will hold.’
The launch of mobile money banking hopes to move Nigeria, which has the
largest population not using banks, into the financial system.
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