The South African headquartered telecom company has become the first telecoms company in Nigeria to provide financial services in the country. The license has already been granted to the company by the Nigerian Central Bank.
The “full super agent” license was granted to its Yello Digital Financial Services Limited (YDFS) unit after the completion of a pilot phase that commenced in December 2018. The MTN Nigeria will be able to access the unbanked Nigerians. According to World Bank estimates, the number of unbanked Nigerians would be close to 100 million. MTN has the network to offer a bouquet of financial services to under-served people in Nigeria and to bring them to the mainstream of the economy. Also, this would catalyze the growth of the fintech companies in the oil rich country, which, of late, has created a few billionaires and hundreds of millionaires. Also, growth of fintech sector will improve the digital infrastructure. It is reliably learnt that MTN Nigeria has also applied for Payment Service Bank License, which help offering a broader and deeper range of financial services to those communities. The telecom company is hopeful that it will soon get the license. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) expects that the move will help achieve financial inclusion in Nigeria from 40% now to 80% by 2020.
