With over 300,000 mobile money agents spread across the country, MoMo Agent is taking financial inclusion to an otherwise underserved population in Nigeria. Prior to the MoMo Agent launch in August 2019, less than 70 per cent of Nigerian adults had access to basic financial services according to EFinA. MoMo Agent was launched to help fill this gap in the financial services sector by providing basic financial services to the communities ignored by traditional banks. Its strategic agent coverage is extensive and majorly includes rural and semi-urban areas. With this, residents in these communities can have access to cash-to-cash transactions, bill payments, sending and receiving cash, and more, without having to visit a bank or an ATM.
A GSMA report on the state of the mobile money industry in 2019 stated that the number of agent outlets worldwide has almost tripled over the past five years. The report also mentioned that the reach of a mobile money agent is now seven times that of ATMs and 20 times that of bank branches. This data which also captures the Nigerian mobile money market is indicative of the growth at home. There has been a proliferation of mobile money agents in rural areas and inner cities of urban areas. These mobile money agents who provide inaccessible financial services are alternatives to traditional banking systems like banks and ATMs in these communities.
Due to the non-availability of banks and ATMs in these underbanked regions, people engage in cash-to-cash transactions for their daily operations.
