Nigeria’s biggest telco, MTN Nigeria has received a license to offer financial services to Nigerians from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The telco will now offer financial services to the unbanked, underbanked and banked Nigerians through its subsidiary, Yello Digital Financial Services Limited (YDFS).
The CBN announced in 2018 that it will grant telecom companies access to provide banking services to the unbanked across Nigeria in a bid to bridge the financial gap. These services will be accessed through mobile money. Based on this, the CBN granted YDFS a ‘full super-agent’ license.
See also: MTN Nigeria’s Second Quarter Reveals Subscribers growth to 61.5 Million
MTN will leverage this license to extend financial services to the under-served across the country. They plan to leverage this infrastructure to scale their Fintech initiatives. By being a ‘full super-agent’, MTN will successfully convert its existing airtime agents to its YDFS agents. They intend to also recruit other small businesses to offer the services.
MTN Group stated in 2018 that it would apply for a mobile banking license in Nigeria and plans to launch the service in 2019. The company has since been working on a pilot project that will meet the conditions of a full super-agent license. The license aligns with the federal government’s goal that aims to achieve 80% financial inclusion by 2020.
MTN Nigeria also listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in May 2019 in a N2 trillion ($6.54 billion) debut. This is the NSE second-largest stock by market value.
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