IFC, Firstmonie sign advisory services agreement on mobile money

International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, on Monday signed an advisory services agreement with Firstmonie, a subsidiary of First Bank Nigeria Limited, to advance mobile financial services and agent banking.

This is in order to strengthen the supply of affordable financial services to low-income individuals and small-scale entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

IFC will provide Firstmonie with technical assistance in financial modeling, agent management and customer activation, to a value of $550,000, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Mike Ogbalu, managing director of Pridar Systems (wholly owned by FirstBank), the owners of Firstmonie, said, “At Firstmonie, we are committed to expanding mobile financial services to the under banked and low income communities. With the advisory support from IFC, we hope to achieve our goal of boosting financial inclusion through our product offerings and decrease the population of the unbanked and under-banked in Nigeria.”

Nigeria has a low rate of financial inclusion, with only 43 percent of the adult population having access to formal financial services. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued licences for mobile money operators in 2010, but adoption and usage has been slow to take off due to high costs, poor agent network management and low awareness, amongst the population.