Mobile Money Operators To Lose Licenses

folarin okunola

April 21, 2015 11:18 AM

The CBN is not hitting the 30% growth goal it set when the Mobile Money system was introduced in Nigeria.

CBN HQ.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has decided that it may have to withdraw the licenses of inactive mobile money operators (MMOs).

According to Punch.ng, the apex banks decision may have been influenced by the fact that he sector is yet to achieve the 30% growth forecast set by the bank in 2012, even though it had granted licenses to over 18 mobile payment providers.

In the report, It was noted that no other country has a higher number of mobile money operators than Nigeria and the slow growth of mobile money services was worrying to say the least.

In Kenya, via the Mpesa scheme, the mobile money service has thrived even though the number of mobile money operators is relatively lower than that of Nigeria.

In her reaction, Electronic Payment Association of Nigeria Executive secretary Mrs Regha Onajite said the cause of the industry's lack of growth may be due to lack of industry knowledge on the part of the licensees.

“We must realise that a lot of mobile money operators didn’t know that mobile money is capital-intensive when they went to pick their licences,” she said.

Since it was introduced into the Nigerian financial ecosystem back in 2011, the mobile money payment platform has refused to achieve its true potential.

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