Emma Okonji
Determined to further bridge the financial inclusion gap in the country, Globacom, at the weekend, launched its payment service bank business called the MoneyMaster PSB.
The PSB had since commenced commercial operations on May 30, 2022.
In a statement shortly after the launch in Lagos, the telecom company said: “Our over-arching business objective remains to empower Nigerians by providing them with unlimited opportunities. MoneyMaster extends that objective as it targets the unbanked and under-banked with G-Kala its flagship product in order to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria.”
MoneyMaster PSB was granted a payment service bank license by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on August 27, 2020. Payment service banks can, by virtue of their licenses, facilitate payment and remittance services within Nigeria, accept deposits from individuals and small businesses, issue debit and prepaid cards, operate electronic wallets, inbound remittances, and carry out other services in line with CBN regulations. They however differ from commercial banks in the fact that they cannot grant loans.
Money Master, according to Globacom, will be leveraging on its pan-Nigerian spread and pervasive agents’ footprint in the rural and urban areas as it begins its massive roll-out. To open an account, all the customer needs to do is dial *995# then follow the prompts from a Glo line or from any other telecommunications network as MoneyMaster PSB is network agnostic.
Just as Globacom revolutionized the telecom industry with cutting-edge technology and unique products when it started operations in 2003, MoneyMaster PSB is poised to redefine the payment service banks’ landscape while driving financial inclusion in Nigeria, Globacom said in the statement.
“One key feature of MoneyMaster’s G-kala product is that the customer’s phone number will be used as his or her account number,” the statement continued. “We are grateful to the CBN for the opportunity to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria using our cutting edge technology and vast network. With 133.5 million bank accounts in Nigeria as of December 2021 according to figures released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) and with only 54 million BVNs registered as of April 10, 2022, there is a huge gap of about 79 million Nigerians and potential for PSBs like MoneyMaster to help bring many unbanked and under-banked into the financial services ecosystem,” the statement further said.
