FirstBank, Etisalat Collude On New Mobile Money Scheme

January 6, 2015 Editor Business, Finance/Money, Strategies & Solutions

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VENTURES AFRICA – A partnership that will improve the accessibility and security of mobile payments in Nigeria has been struck between the First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) and telecommunication giant Etisalat. Specifically, FBN’s Firstmonie Mobile Money and Etisalat’s easywallet will be fused to create a new solution that can push for adoption of mobile money in Africa’s largest economy.
This synergy will promote the use of Firstmonie mobile money on the easywallet STK menu, thus creating some new value for all stakeholders in the mobile money segment including customers, agents and merchants.
“Firstmonie has continued to show its commitment to upholding the financial inclusion drive by the Central Bank of Nigeria and this is evident in its recent award of the Best Mobile Money Operator in Nigeria by the EFInA Financial Inclusion Awards. Partnering with Etisalat to promote the use of the STK menu as the preferred Mobile Money channel further demonstrates our commitment to lead innovation in the development of secure mobile payment solutions,” said Folake
Ani-Mumuney, Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at FBN.
Giving further comments on the new partnership, Lucas Dada, Business Segment Director at Etisalat Nigeria said; “Etisalat easywallet is one of the most secure and convenient platforms for mobile money services. With the easywallet, Etisalat subscribers can make financial transactions such as Peer-to-Peer transfers, Bills Payment and Airtime top-up, directly from their mobile device.”
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) opened up the Mobile Money highway in 2009 as a strategy to boost financial inclusion levels to 80 percent by 2020, but the country is seeing a rather slow adoption of this service. As at 2010 when full mobile money services were launched, the entire banking sector of 22 banks could only boast of about 25 million bank accounts despite a population of over 170 million people.
The case for further adoption of mobile money is enclosed in the understanding that higher levels of financial inclusion translates into economic development; this has been clearly demonstrated by advanced economies and the IMF captured this philosophy in a Financial Access Survey report last year. According to the report, depositor data from commercial banks in Africa revealed that depositors per one thousand adults grew five-folds between 2004 and 2013 and translated into a 40 percent growth in real GDP per capita.
If only 30 percent of about 23 million Nigerian adults who keep their monies at home saved five hundred naira ($2.71) in a Nigerian bank every month, the financial services industry in the country could increase by a staggering 41.4 billion naira ($224 million) every year. Mobile money remains one of the surest strategies to reach the unbanked in rural areas and other developing regions; as more players enter this market in Nigeria and the intensity of competition increases, it is expected that the net effect will be a more inclusive country.