Monitise to roll out m-payments service in Nigeria

Monitise, the mobile money networks and
technology group, has been granted a provisional licence by the
Central Bank of Nigeria to introduce a mobile payments service in
the country.

The first phase of the Monitise service is slated to launch in
2011 directly to consumers. In parallel the service will also be
offered on a white label basis to the country’s banks and financial
service providers.

Monitise said that customers will be able
to:

– Add money to their mobile wallet or make
withdrawals at a countrywide network of processing agents;

– Make person to person (P2P) payments via
their handset;

– Check their balance by SMS alert, and

– Future services will include savings,
insurance and pensions.

Prateek Shrivastava, managing director of
Monitise Africa, said: “Of Nigeria’s 149 million strong population,
19 million have bank accounts, but 75 million have mobile phones –
which amply illustrates the potential of mobile payments services
across the country.”

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