MTN, Stanbic IBTC Bank Join Hands for Mobile Money Services

MTN Nigeria, leading telecommunications service provider, and Stanbic IBTC Bank, a member of Standard Bank Group, have signed an agreement on the provision of mobile money services to Nigerians. Speaking at the signing ceremony chief executive officers of the two organisations said that the partnership represents a major step in Nigeria’s e-payment segment and will facilitate the provision of secure, convenient and user-friendly mobile money services to millions of people across the country. According to Brett Goschen, chief executive officer of MTN Nigeria said: “Deployment of the mobile money service in Nigeria is gradually changing the process of managing financial transactions in the country. We are proud to partner with Stanbic IBTC Bank on facilitating this positive change.” Goschen said MTN’s partnership with Stanbic IBTC Bank is in accordance with the telecommunications company’s promise to empower its customers by providing them with improved services and more innovative applications. He added that mobile money, while bringing banking services to the previously unbanked, also opens up a wide range of benefits and value added services to the banked sector, including corporate, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and individual customers. Sola David-Borha, CEO of Stanbic IBTC said the partnership will avail the bank of MTN’s nationwide platform to provide mobile payment services and in the process break down the traditional barriers hindering financial inclusion of millions of Nigerians. This, she said, will bring low cost, secure and convenient financial services to urban, semi-urban and rural areas across the country, opening a new channel of financial services delivery and complementing the Central Bank of Nigeria’s quest to usher in a cashless economy in the country. “We are very pleased to partner with MTN on this strategic initiative. Our goal is to increase access to mobile money service through this platform by providing an entry point for people that would not ordinarily come into banking halls. The partnership will also provide the banked with an alternative to handling physical cash by getting them to do basic transactions using the mobile banking network. We are leveraging on our banking expertise, the large subscriber base of the MTN network and the knowledge users have of the mobile phone to deliver non-traditional, low cost financial services to all Nigerians, unbanked artisans, traders, market women and farmers among others, as well as under-banked individuals,” she stated. The mobile money initiative, an integral part of the broad objectives of the FSS 20:2020 was conceived by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a result of its critical nature to achieving a cashless society which, according to the apex bank, is fundamental to the nation’s goal of becoming one of the top 20 largest economies in the world by the year 2020.