Airtel, FirstBank Partner on FirstMonie Payment Solution

Airtel Nigeria, telecommunications service provider has gone into a partnership with First Bank Nigeria Plc to offer Firstmonie Talkmore; the all-new, revolutionary mobile payment solution, to the public.

The strategic partnership which was sealed with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), in Lagos makes it possible for Firstmonie Talkmore to run essentially on Airtel platform to make mobile payment services easy and accessible to a broader spectrum of Nigerians.

The partnership is the first major collaboration between leading operators in the nation’s banking and telecoms industries to provide a first class mobile payment solution to Nigeria. 

Specifically, subscribers on Airtel network who sign up to Firstmonie will be able to send and receive money, buy airtime, pay bills and carry out other forms of transaction on their mobile phones without operating a bank account.

 In addition, any duly registered subscriber on the Airtel network who signs on to Firstmonie will automatically receive N100 e-value and will be eligible for N240 bonus airtime.

Speaking on the special offering, Osondu Nwokoro, director, Regulatory Affairs and Special Projects, observed that Firstmonie could not have been better timed in view of the current drive by the Central Bank of Nigeria to entrench a cashless economy in the country.

He said: “As pioneers in the GSM sector and leaders of innovation in the industry, we have no doubt that Firstmonie will definitely revolutionize the mobile payment industry and further endear the Airtel brand to the Nigerian people.”

According to Nwokoro, Airtel has been a leading driver of innovative mobile payment solutions across Africa having singularly planted Mobile Money platforms in 16 countries across the continent. 

“It is this experience and expertise that we are bringing to bear on Firstmonie in the hope that it will deepen customer loyalty for Airtel and stimulate customer acquisition for FirstBank. We also have no doubt that our prospective subscribers now have one more reason to join Airtel while those who are dissatisfied with the service they receive from their current network providers have just been given the perfect reason to port to Airtel, the network that works,” Mr. Nwokoro further explained.

Also speaking on the offering, Mrs. Folake Ani-Mumuney, head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, FirstBank, observed that the product which facilitates the integration of both the unbanked and underbanked population into the financial system also offers an excellent medium for Airtel subscribers to send funds securely to their families and friends across the country.

He added that Firstmonie offer is open to subscribers of the Airtel network across the nation and registration is initiated by dialing *894# on any basic mobile phone or by logging on to https://www.firstmonie.com/iweb or https://www.firstmonie.com/imobile.” 

Interestingly, the new partnership on Firstmonie came on the heels of a recent one between Airtel and FBNLife Insurance (a member of the FBN Group) on the product PADI4Life which runs on the robust 3.75g network provided by Airtel.