The future of the mCash, a product of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) is seen to be driven by expected significant adoption by other financial institutions (OFIs).
Other financial institutions include microfinance banks (MFBs), Finance Companies (FCs), Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs).
mCash is a micro-payment platform or an innovative solution designed by NIBSS in collaboration with Deposit Money Bank (DMBs) and the Telcos, to facilitate low-value retail payments in the country.
Launched two years ago, mCash is designed to drive payments by providing accessible electronic channels to a wider range of users and to further grow financial inclusion.
“We already have some microfinance banks coming on the mCash platform and for that kind of organisation that do not have plenty of money; can’t go to Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) and have a code, they do not have a big banking application at the back. The mCash platform actually makes it easy for them to register and immediately their customers can start USSD transactions without the cost of trying to do it on their own”, Ade Shonubi, managing director/CEO, NIBSS said.
Read also: Beat Drone emerges biggest winner of Techfest 2018
Speaking in Lagos at the re-launch of the product, Shonubi, said the mCash is the first payment platform that has insurance up to N50,000.
“If you use mCash and there is a fraud, up to N50,000 is fully insured and you will get your money back because Bank Verification Number (BVN) is at the back, we can always do investigation and find out where the money went unlike any other products”, he said.
Shonubi said the product uses a common USSD that cut across all banks. “Someone who has many bank accounts does not have to start remembering the code for each of the banks”.
“The Telcos are committed to provide the USSD channel to give it a priority. In terms service, we believe it will give better service, less failure than you would have for some of the others”.
NIBSS relaunched the product on Tuesday after some issues around the SIM swap were resolved. “When we started Mcash for example, we did not anticipate the full effect of the sim swap problems that existed. So, when it came to be, we had to slow down because sim swap was a major issue from a loss and a risk perspective”, he said.
Uzoma Dozie, managing director/CEO, Diamond Bank plc, who delivered a keynote address at the event said mCASH is cheap and secured and would significantly increase the volume of mobile payments in Nigeria.
Represented by Caroline Anyanwu, deputy managing director/chief risk officer, he said people need high level of education to use other platforms but all that is required with mCash is phone and merchandise code.
