Banks in Nigeria have spotted the money spinner in the transactions alert and are capitalizing on the growing interest by charging for alerts on transactions, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek investigations have revealed.
The 24 banks in the country rake in a princely N14 million from Short Message Service (SMS) on transactions alerts sent to their customers on daily basis.
The 24 banks in the country handle at least some 2 million transactions daily, and for each transaction, an SMS is sent to the accountholder’s phone (if the customer subscribed to the service).
SMS on transactions is a simple money-making idea for the banks.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that the banks buy the service at N3 and sell it to customers at N10 per SMS, irrespective of the telecom service provider, thereby generating a profit of N7 on each SMS sent.
For that N7, alerts are sent to customers on transactions ranging from withdrawal, deposit, charges on COT, interest rates and other transactions.
The service has attracted a large and growing number of customers and they are not complaining because it gives them a sense of security.
A typical SMS from the banks reads “Debit in A/C 11009967338 of N234, 000; Rmks: ATC/3460976560-ATM, CHARGE-Jun-2009 13:57:44, BAL is N250, 000.”
Nigeria Communications Week gathered that in simple terms, SMS transaction alert is an automatic notification service through SMS that keeps customers informed and updated on activities related to their accounts.
This service is delivered through Value Added Service providers who typically connect to the operator using protocols like Short Message Peer-to-peer Protocol (SMPP), connecting either directly to the Short Message Service Centre (SMSC), otherwise known as ‘short code’ or increasingly, to a messaging gateway that allows the operator to control and charge for the content better.
Mobile text banking provides real-time visibility to manage financial affairs, reduce fraud, lower call centre costs, increase revenue potential, as well as offer under- and un-banked citizens the ability to bank where the opportunity had not existed.
Nigeria Communications Week gathered that before a customer can use the SMS alert, he/she would need to register his mobile phone number with his/ her bank.
