Nigeria: Mobile Money - Banks Must Prepare for Possible Explosion

By Emma Okonji

culled from: THIS DAY Newspaper

Infosys of India, the world developer of Finacle core banking software has challenged Nigerian banks to be prepared to accommodate the expected surge in customer growth from mobile money transactions.
Vice President and Global Head of Client Services for Finacle Software, Mr. Sanat Rao, who spoke with THISDAY at a software seminar organised for banks in Lagos recently, said mobile penetration countries in Africa, especially Nigeria, was going to develop rapidly in terms of customer growth, because of the already established mobile devices.
"The situation of well-established mobile devices is already changing banking services as more people are using their mobile devices in financial transactions," Rao said.
The banks, he said should be prepared to experience more usage of mobile devices in financial transactions, especially as Nigeria is warming up for mobile money implementation.
"On our part, we are ready for such envisaged surge in terms of customer growth in the banking sector and we have already developed software that will address the challenge that will come with it."
According to him, Finacle Software from Infosys had solutions that would enable banks gainfully serve the under-banked and unbanked with relevant products and services.

"Finacle solution supports customer on-boarding using smart-cards and smart applications, supports delivery through channels ranging from laptops to specialised hand-held devices, and supports fingerprinting-based biometric authentication. The solution has extensive offline transaction processing capabilities, supported by a robust synchronisation engine," Rao said.
He explained that mobile banking was going to come much more bigger than the Internet banking, insisting that as mobile technology was changing rapidly, the banks must also change in terms of infrastructure deployment and in the use of core Finacle banking software from Infosys that was designed to bring ease to banking operations in the midst of mobile money transaction.

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"Nigerian banks should expect high customer growth in mobile money transactions in 2012 and 2013. It is already happening in Nigeria, South Africa and most part of the world," he said.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had earlier called on Nigerians to embrace electronic payment systems in all forms of financial transactions, insisting it would boost economic development, reduce financial risks and enhance financial inclusion.
CBN recently gave commercial approval to 11 mobile money operators, mandating them to carryout full mobile money operations in cities and remote parts of the country.
Mobile money supports Person to Person (P2P) transfers with immediate availability of funds for the beneficiary. Mobile payments are meant for low value transactions where speed of completion is key and it encourages cash -lite economy.