The poor are different

Apr 20th 2012, 8:32 by J.P. | LONDON

HOW many people in the world have bank accounts and what do they use them for? You would think there would be answers to those questions, given that banking is the quintessentially global business, and is important not only in the West but in developing countries, where banks can help poor people save, borrow and invest. Yet, until now, data on the global reach of financial institutions have been limited. The IMF publishes a financial access survey of depositors and borrowers. But there is little about how much people save or why they borrow. Especially little is known about the banking practices of the poor, women and young people. So a big data hole got plugged last year when the Gates Foundation, the World Bank and Gallup World Poll carried out the biggest survey yet of how people save, borrow, make payments and manage risk. The results have just appeared.

CBN, BusinessWorld organises cash-less Lagos Fair

By Laz IBEABUCHI

LAGOS-Following the need to enlighten many Nigerians on the new cashless policy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and BusinessWorld newspaper are co-hosting a 3-day Cash-Less Lagos Fair at the LTV Event Centre, Agidingbi, Lagos May 9-11, 2012.

The fair with the theme: “Bringing Hands-on Experience of Alternative Payment Options to Consumers,” will afford banks, card companies, telecom companies, and other providers of alternative payment options a great opportunity to interact with consumers.

Highlights of the fair include speech to be delivered by the Mallam Lamido Sanusi, the CBN governor; presentations by experts on alternative payment options; and raffle draw/promotions by exhibitors and the organisers.

It is believed that the challenge of the cash-less policy is not paucity of alternative payment options, but getting the public to be acquainted with these options and embrace them too. This challenge will be resolved if the gap between the banks and other alternative payment providers and the general public is bridged.

Aero Introduces A New Payment Option For Customers |

Make Your Flight Bookings Easier And Faster Just Sending Two Text Messages

Friday, April 20th, 2012

You can book your flights by sending just two SMS to the short code 32122. Below explains how it works;
First SMS: Aero (space) origin (space) destination (space) date
Example 1: Aero Lagos Calabar 29 April
Example 2: Aero Abuja Port h 30 April
Example 3 Aero Port h Lagos 1 May

First Bank forges alliances with GSM Big Three in mobile money push

By Olubunmi Adeniyi

Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Steven Evans (left) and Group Managing Director/Chief Executive, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Bisi Onasanya (middle) at the recent signing of Mobile Money partnership in Lagos. To drive its aspiration as a major player in the emerging mobile money space amid Nigeria's drive towards a cashless economy, First Bank has so far entered into pact with three GSM operators: Airtel Nigeria, Globacom and Etisalat Nigeria.

Lagos. April 19, 2012. First Bank of Nigeria Plc has closed sweeping deals with three big GSM networks under plans by one of the leading banks to take market leadership in the emerging mobile money space, its Group Managing Director/Chief Executive, Bisi Onasanya has said.

To drive its aspiration as a major player in the emerging mobile money space amid Nigeria’s drive towards a cashless economy, First Bank has so far entered into pact with three GSM operators, Airtel Nigeria, Globacom and Etisalat Nigeria.

Visafone sees opportunities in mobile money, broadband

Leading Code Division Multiple Access telecoms player in the country, Visafone Communications Limited, has said it is not closing its eyes to the huge opportunities available in the mobile money space.

As such, its Chiarman, Mr. Jim, Ovia, said the company was poised to operate as a dominant player in the mobile money market as well as in mobile broadband where it had comparative advantage.

Ovia, who spoke through the Managing Director, Visafone, Mr. Sailesh Iyer, during the company’s dealers’ meet recently, said the firm’s strategic plan would ensure that it took a leadership position in mobile money, cash-less Nigeria and convergence.

Visafone to dominate mobile money

TELECOMS

By BiztechAfrica - April 12, 2012, 10:18 a.m.

Image: Jim Ovia. By BiztechAfrica

By Lukas Ajanaku, Lagos, Nigeria

The Chairman of Visafone Communications Limited, Jim Ovia, has assured the telco’s numerous subscribers in Nigeria that, as a leader in the code division multiple access (CDMA) sub-sector of the telecoms industry in Nigeria, it will play leading role in the implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN)Cashlite Lagos, an initiative designed to institutionalise use of alternative means transacting business other than carrying physical cash.

The chairman also pledged to be at the forefront in the area of broadband internet services provision in the country.

The CDMA sub-sector has been under intense pressure generated by the neck-to-neck competition unleashed on the industry by the GSM players, most of whom benefited immensely from one form of waiver or the other from the government.

Recently, there were calls for a “bail-out” fund for the CDMA but the regulator of the sector, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said there would be no bail out.

Ovia, who spoke through the Managing Director, Sailesh Iyer, at the company’s Dealers’ Meet in Lagos, also said the firm had clinched an award for excellent service provision of telecom services in the country.

Mobile money deposits jump to Sh176 billion in Kenya

GEORGE NGIGI
Business Daily Africa.

Cash deposits held by mobile phone money transfer providers have grown to more than Sh176 billion, equivalent to a tenth of the Sh1.5 trillion held by commercial banks.

New data released by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) shows that mobile money deposits rose by 50.6 per cent in the past three months of last year.

This followed a rise in the maximum cash that mobile phone users could hold in their phones to Sh100,000 from the earlier limit of Sh70,000.

“The total deposits made during the period under review were recorded as Sh176 billion, representing an average of Sh58 billion deposits made per month. This is against Sh117 billion deposits made during the previous reporting period,” said CCK in a report released on Wednesday.

Nigeria: e-Transactions - Stakeholders Cautioned On High Cyber Threats

      

NAHIMAH AJIKANLE NURUDEEN, 16 APRIL 2012

Lagos — Experts have stressed the need for Nigerian banks and other business organisations to leverage latest technology to protect their critical databases from increased cyber threats in view of the expected boost on the electronic means of transactions in the country.

IT experts who gathered in Lagos at a 'Data Security and Optimisation' workshop organised by Oracle, a software company in conjunction with one of its platinum partner, Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), said one of the measures to be taken by organisations was to strengthen the protection of their databases through deployment of newest security solutions to protect their corporate information and clients.

Nigeria: At Last, Lagos Fully in Cash-Less Regime

 

BY UDEME CLEMENT, 8 APRIL 2012

Commercial banks operating in Lagos State have commenced the implementation of approved processing charges on cash withdrawal limits on individuals and corporate organisations in line with the directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which fixed April 1, 2012 as the takeoff date.

Sunday Business gathered that banks had in the last two months deployed thousands of point of sale (PoS) terminals, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and various mobile banking devices to promote alternative modes of payment and reduce emphasis on large volumes of cash transactions in compliance with the new cash policy.

The PoS terminals, according to financial experts, can be deployed even in market places, as some of them do run on battery. "There are also PoS terminals that are so small and can be handheld", according to a manager at First Bank, Isolo branch, along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.