In early 2018, it was reported that the CBN granted a mobile money licence to a subsidiary of MTN Nigeria but revoked it just a week later.
In the last quarter of the year, Nigeria’s apex banking authority released guidelines on how telecommunications operators could participate in the mobile money space. They were required to apply for a Payment Service Bank (PSB) licence through a subsidiary company and make a minimum non-refundable capital deposit of N5bn ($12.2m).
Although there were questions about the application fee, the major telecom operators – MTN, Airtel, 9mobile, Ntel, and Globacom – still threw their hats in the ring given the lucrative appeal of mobile money.
Not the real deal, yet
The license would only allow the telecom operators to maintain savings accounts or electronic purses (wallets), accept deposits from individuals and SMEs, issue debit and prepaid cards, and
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