MTN Nigeria has announced that its Fintech subsidiary MoMon Payment Service Bank (PSB) has formally begun operations.

The operator released a statement notifying the Nigerian Exchange and investors of the development, adding that it follows a successful pilot initiated on 16 May 2022 “in commemoration of the launch of our GSM operations on 16 May 2021 and our listing by introduction on the Nigerian Exchange on 16 May 2019.”

MTN Nigeria describes this news as progress on its Ambition 2025 strategic priorities, and believes it is poised now to leverage its agent network of over 166,000 active agent and digitised partnership infrastructure.

The company said going forward, it will scale its agent network “in order to reach Nigerians across the country and remove friction from everyday payment by digitising cash payment.”

MTN has continued to underline the significance of the Fintech market to Ambition 2025, and the Nigerian market is considered key to this objective.

At the end of April 2022, MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola noted in his presentation of unaudited results for the quarter ended 31 March 2022, that while it expected margins to be impacted by, among other factors, the investment required to launch MoMo PSB, the company continued to generate an increase in Fintech revenue by 46.5%.

Toriola said at the time, “… we were granted final approval for our MoMo Payment Service Bank (PSB) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This will enable us to offer financial services in line with the CBN’s guidelines and support the government in fulfilling its agenda of driving financial inclusion in Nigeria … Our existing MoMo business provides a solid foundation for launching MoMo PSB and driving digital and financial inclusion in Nigeria. As at the end of March 2022, we had approximately 10.7 million active users and 166k active MoMo agents.”

Having now confirmed approval to operate, users can dial *671# on any network and open a MoMo wallet and utilise the service.

MTN Nigeria added that MoMo wallets in the future will enable Nigerians in the Diaspora to send money to any phone number in the country, an important feature given Nigeria’s ranking as a destination for the highest remittance inflow in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Of the latest development, Toriola said, “We are grateful to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for their support and guidance through the process. This is an important milestone for MTN Nigeria in our mission to support government’s drive towards financial inclusion in Nigeria. Not just for those in urban centres and markets, but also people in rural and remote areas of the country who remain excluded from the financial system.”

MoMo PSB CEO Usoro Usoro said, “Providing easy to use, accessible and affordable financial services to all Nigerians is essential to executing the CBN’s financial inclusion strategy and the digital inclusion agenda of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy. We look forward to playing our part and are excited about the opportunities to partner with relevant institutions across various sectors to co-create and expand access nationwide.”