• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Banks can now offer mobile money wallet services without prior approval – CBN

mobile money

Deposit Money Bank (DMBs) can henceforth offer mobile money wallet services without prior approval from the regulator, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said in a circular on Thursday.

However, banks are expected to notify the CBN before commencement of these services and are required to operate within the extant regulation of mobile money operations.

The move is to complement recent growth in agent banking services under the Super Agent and Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility (SANEF) initiative and in recognition of the increasing demand for no-frils mobile money services.

The circular with the reference number PSMDIR/GEN/CIR/01/011, dated on June 4, 2019 to all DMBs, titled ‘Operation of Mobile Money Wallets by Deposit Money Banks’ was released on the website of the Bank.

The circular was co-signed by Sam Okojere, director, payment system management department and Ahmad Abdullahi, director banking supervision department.

The CBN remains committed to deepening financial inclusion in line with its objective to achieve the national financial inclusion target of 80 percent by 2020.

Also, the CBN on Thursday released another circular to all DMBs on the ‘Modalities for the Implementation of the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI).

The CBN in collaboration with the Bankers Committee introduced CIFI to improve access to long-term, lo-cost financing for entrepreneurs and investors in the Nigerian creative and Information Technology (IT) sub-sector, as part of efforts to boost job creation in the country, particularly among the youth.

The circular with the reference number FPRD/DIR/GEN/CIR/07/031 was signed by Joseph Gana for director, financial policy and regulation department, CBN.

According to the circular, the initiative shall be funded from the Agri-Business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS), an initiative of the bankers committee with a seed of N22.9 billion.

Consequently, out of this amount, student software development loan was put at N1.0 billion, IT – N5.5 billion, movie production – N3.0 billion and disaggregated into production – N1.5 billion, equipment financing – N1.5 billion, movie distribution – N4.0 billion, music – N5.4 billion, and fashion – N4.0 billion.

 

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE