MTN receives final PSB approval to kick-start an exciting era for Nigerian fintech

Nigeria’s largest telecommunications provider, MTN, has received a final approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate a payment service bank. This comes four months after an approval-in-principle granted to the company in November 2021.

In a statement by Uto Ukpana, the Company Secretary, the company said, “MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (MTN Nigeria) announces the receipt of a letter dated 8 April 2022 from the CBN addressed to Momo PSB conveying final approval to commence operations. The date of commencement will be communicated to the CBN in accordance with it’s requirements.”

Following the approval, MTN can now offer virtually all of the services offered by commercial banks including deposits, payments, issuing of debit and credit cards, and remittance service within Nigeria.

A senior executive of the company revealed the company’s plan to leverage its vast coverage of the country to bring financial services closer to those who are excluded from the financial system.

“We want to leverage the financial inclusion drive. We plan to give people who don’t have bank accounts or even ATMs the opportunity to be able to do banking services. We are leveraging on our size. When we have subscribers of over 70 million spread across Nigeria with our infrastructural spread, we are well-positioned to cover everywhere. That’s exactly what we want to achieve.”