Enhancing Financial Inclusion
The granting of a payment service bank licence to Globacom by the Central Bank of Nigeria, coupled with the recent launch of MoneyMaster PSB, Nigeria is set to further deepen its financial inclusion drive, writes Emma Okonji
Following the approval granted Globacom to operate MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank (PSB) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2020, the telecoms company, last week, launched G-Kala, its flagship product that would further drive the activities of MoneyMaster PSB across the country.
According to Globacom, last week’s launch of G-Kala is in line with its commitment to deepen, stimulate the growth of digital payment in Nigeria, and to bridge the country’s financial inclusion gap.
The launch attracted industry stakeholders and celebrities from within and outside the country, and Globacom used the occasion to announce several business initiatives that further push the frontiers of telecom business beyond the country.
MoneyMaster PSB Launch
Determined to further bridge the financial inclusion gap in the country, Globacom, last week, 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 revolutionised 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, the statement said.
“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.
About MoneyMaster PSB
MoneyMaster PSB is a payment service bank promoted by Globacom, and it was licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria on August 27, 2020. The CBN’s aim of setting up PSBs is to help grow financial inclusion in the country and achieve the CBN’s target of 75 per cent financial inclusion by 2024.
A PSB can do everything a bank can do except give loans or accept forex remittances
The CBN had also licensed other PSB operators in Nigeria, like Momo promoted by MTN, Smartcash PSB promoted by Airtel, 9PSB promoted by 9mobile and HopePSB promoted by Unified Payments, bringing the total number of PSB operators in Nigeria to five.
Product Offering
The MoneyMaster’s flagship product, called G-Kala, offers variety of services, and with G-Kala, customers can open an account simply by dialing @995# from any network then follow the prompts. Once the account is opened and the G-Kala wallet is funded, customers can buy airtime and data, pay bills, pay merchant, withdraw cash at any agent location, transfer money to other bank accounts in Nigeria, and send money to any mobile phone in Nigeria.
According to Globacom, one key feature of G-Kala is that customers will never forget their account number because their phone number automatically becomes their account number.
The Assurances
Delivering a keynote at the launch of MoneyMaster, the Head, Enterprise Business Group at Globacom, Zakari Usman, said with the theme: ‘Pushing The Frontiers: An Evening With Glo’ the telecom company would unveil a suite of innovative and cutting edge business solutions to a select audience of C-Suite executives who were invited to witness the launch of another revolutionary product from Globacom.
According to Usman, “We also want to, as the cliché says, kill more than one bird with a single stone by formally introducing MoneyMaster PSB, our new financial services subsidiary. As technology advances and the world becomes more digitally interconnected, the businesses that will survive into the future are those that continue to push the frontiers by leveraging technological advancements to design, introduce and disrupt the market with innovative technologies, products and services.
“Novelties we thought were the mere stuff of fiction and movies have become the reality of our quotidian existence. We have driverless cars, smart homes, e-medicine and e-education. Everything we imagined decades ago has become the stuff of everyday life. As leaders of businesses, especially those at the intersection of commerce and technology, we must not be caught napping. We must continue to push the frontiers because as Peter Drucker once noted, it is either we innovate or die.”
Impact of 5G
Speaking on the impact of 5G on telecom business and how telecom operators like Globacom will leverage 5G technology to offer innovative services to its existing and would-be customers, Usman said: “As we get ready for the full dawning of 5G technology and the digitally integrated world it promises,we must continue to up our game in the services we offer directly or indirectly. We must also begin to explore the synergy inherent in collaboration and the revolutionary mindset of Co-opetition espoused by Adam M. Brandenburger and Barry J. Nalebuff in their book of the same title. As technology compels us to be co-dependent, we will begin to better appreciate the advantages open to us when we collaborate and co-operate.”
Following a transparent and credible auction of 3.5GHz on December 13, 2021, the National Frequency Management Council (NFMC), chaired by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, had, on February 22, 2022, officially handed over the spectrum allocation for 5G deployment as well as federal government-approved National Policy on 5G to the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), the telecom industry regulator.
NCC is optimistic that effective implementation of the National Policy on 5G will accelerate the actualisation of the national targets in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025, the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030, as well as other sectoral policies designed to enhance Nigeria’s digital transformation.
The Focus
Addressing the mission and focus of Globacom, Usman said: “Our focus at Glo remains to innovate/provide value/enhance lives. Glo has always disrupted the market with innovative and value adding services and products from per second billing to Blackberry Services to 4G Data to Value Added Service (VAS), to borrow me data service to Digital – GloCafe and GloTV.Currently we have more innovative and value adding voice products like GloBerekete 10X; Glo Socialbundles that keep you connected on social media, digital and VAS products like e-top and then our annual end of year promosthat empower and help people’s dreams come through.
We are continuing with that focus with our Auto Credit product a part of our suite of E-top up services will provide seamless transition and connection for customers who run out of credit mid-conversation through a service we will provide in concert with aggregators and financial partners.”
According to him, MoneyMaster PSB, our payment service bank, commenced business recently and the over-arching objective is to redefine the payment service banks’ landscape with our suite of digital financial services while working to help achieve the Central Bank of Nigeria’s mandate of 95 per cent financial inclusion by 2024. MoneyMasterwill disrupt and revolutionise the financial industry in the same way that Globacom revolutionised the telecom industry with cutting-edge technology and unique products when it started operations in 2003, Usman said.
Financial Inclusion Growth Rate
The Nigerian government, in its National Financial Inclusion Strategy adopted in 2011, had set for itself an ambitious target to financially include 80 per cent of its adult population by the year 2020. The target was however not achieved as only 64 per cent were included by the end of 2020.
CBN later set another target to achieve 75 per cent financial inclusion by 2024.
Although financial inclusion has grown in the past decade, Nigeria fell short of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy targets for 2020. The overall financial inclusion target was 80 per cent by 2020; EFInA data shows that only 64 per cent of Nigerian adults were financially included by the end of 2020. This means that 36 per cent of Nigerian adults, which is about 38 million adults, remain completely financially excluded.
In addition, large gaps in financial access remain for some of Nigeria’s most financially excluded groups. Women continue to be more financially excluded than men, with only 45 per cent of women using formal financial services, compared with 56 per cent of men. Adults in Northern Nigeria continue to be significantly more financially excluded than those in the southern zones, and rural adults are still more excluded than those in urban areas. Young adults, between the ages of 18-25, are significantly more likely than older adults to be financially excluded.
The Glo MoneyMaster PSB is however set to bridge the existing financial inclusion gap in the country.
