MTN backs bank-led m-money

MTN Nigeria, has expressed its support for the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) bank- led mobile money model . It will be recalled that the CBN recently licensed a number of financial institutions to carry out mobile money services with the objective of providing easy money transfer services using mobile phones and enhance financial inclusion particularly in rural areas. Speaking at a capacity building seminar recently, MTN's Corporate Services Executive Akinwale Goodluck, stated that the CBN bank - led model has many merits and that it's full implementation would achieve the CBN's stated objective to extend money transfer services to millions of Nigerians who are currently underserved. ' We are supportive of any initiative that brings financial inclusion to the masses and the Central Bank's efforts in this regard are highly commendable'. Explaining the details of the CBN's bank led model, he observed that the partnership between licensed organizations and telecommunications companies is a winning combination. He said 'the current partnership between banks and telcos in the mobile money space leverages available cutting edge ICT technology offered by telcos and best practice payment protocols and expertise supervised by the CBN.' During the seminar, participants gained a better understanding of the details of the CBN guidelines and discussed various ways in which MTN could offer tangible backbone and logistical support to licensed organizations. In his closing remarks, Goodluck remarked that as the leading ICT company, MTN's greatest responsibility to its customers and to Nigeria is to provide world class quality of service in order to support a multitude of products and services. He observed that MTN Nigeria had already built the largest and most sophisticated network in Africa. He remarked ' the world today is heavily dependent on ICT. Our future success as a company depends on how well we support services like mobile money'.