The MTN-owned MoMo Payment Service Bank (PSB) has elevated the cause of expanding cashless payment options and enhancing financial inclusion in Nigeria.
During the August Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Forum, MoMo PSB urged immediate action to improve financial inclusion for the majority of Nigerians and increase the country’s unbanked and underbanked population’s ability to use cashless payments.
The Forum brought attention to the fact that many Nigerians still do not have access to financial services. Its theme was “Financial Inclusion and Cashless Payments in Nigeria: The MoMo PSB Way.”
About 111 million adults live in Nigeria, but only 71.6 million (64%) use formal financial services, while 39.6 million (36%) are either unbanked or only receive informal financial services. This information comes from MoMo PSB.
MoMo PSB found that 49% of the population was financially excluded due in large part to low or irregular income.
There is still hope, though, since 103 million adults, or 93% of the population, have access to mobile phones and 55% of them reside in cities. This offers the nation a fantastic chance to increase the number of people who use cashless financial services and payments.
Only 63.2% of adults, or 63 million, use formal financial services, despite this potential. More than one-third of adult Nigerians remain totally financially excluded, and nearly one in two do not use any formal, regulated financial services.
MoMo PSB’s partnership with the Lagos State Government in 2024 was prompted by its strategic objectives, which include enabling digital transactions in the ecosystem.
“This initiative involved the establishment of Fresh Food Hubs throughout 58 LGAs/LCDAs in Lagos State, with MoMo PSB serving as a designated payment solution provider for six months at the flagship hub at Mushin Idi-Oro,” according to a statement from MoMo PSB.
In keeping with its commercial alliances, MoMo PSB collaborated on the “Empower Her Fortune Initiative 2.0” empowerment program with Ikoyi LCDA. During the second iteration of the program, N50 million in grants were awarded by Mr. Fuad Atanda-Lawal, the Executive Chairman of Ikoyi LCDA. Each of the 1,000 beneficiaries received N50,000 via MoMo PSB.
MoMo PSB said, “Government initiatives, technological advancements, and collaboration between financial institutions and fintech companies have driven significant progress toward financial inclusion in Nigeria in recent years.”
MoMo PSB also targeted high-traffic locations to drive registrations and merchant account openings for the 1,000 beneficiaries via the USSD code *691#, ahead of the instant deposit of the disbursed funds during the event held on August 6.
The PSB noted, “We are strategically positioned to drive financial inclusion to the last mile,” leveraging its extensive agent and digital network, large customer base, and robust technology.
MoMo PSB aims to achieve its goals by “leveraging the high mobile phone usage among Nigerians, our vast retail infrastructure, robust technology platforms, network coverage, and customer base to easily and efficiently support the cashless payment policy and drive financial inclusion to the last mile.”
In 2023, MoMo unveiled an open Application Programming Interface (API) to bolster digital wallets within its platform. This move encourages companies to seamlessly integrate the API for payment processing and collections.
In Nigeria alone, MoMo boasts over 40 million wallet users, which represents less than a quarter of its total wallet user base across Africa, where the figure stands at a staggering 200 million. By tapping into the merchant ecosystem via an open API, MoMo aims to significantly increase its user base across Africa.
