The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) offered a final approval to Airtel Africa Plc, a subsidiary of Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel to operate mobile money services in the country.
Nigeria is Airtel’s biggest market on the continent and 40% of group revenue comes from the West African nation.
The firm which has been operating on a provisional authorisation had applied for a Payment Service Bank (PSB) licence through SMARTCASH Payment Service Bank Limited. Airtel Africa sells its shares on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
Having secured all the requirements, the banking industry regulator in Nigeria has now given the company a full PSB licence.
“I am very pleased that Smartcash has been granted approval for a full PSB licence to operate a service bank business in Nigeria and we are now working towards commencement of business. This licence enables us to expand our digital financial products and reach the millions of Nigerians that do not currently have access to traditional financial services,” said Airtel Africa CEO, Segun Ogunsanya in a statement.
“We are delighted to be able to pursue our shared agenda with the Nigerian Government, the CBN and traditional financial institutions to further deepen financial inclusion in the country for the benefit of all citizens and the Nigerian economy.”
dfcu Bank Partners with Jubilee Health to Launch BlueCare Health Insurance SolutionIn February 2022, Airtel Africa showed strong double-digit growth across all key metrics in its financial results for the nine-month period ended Dec. 31, 2021.
In terms of headline numbers, the company reported a 21.7% increase in revenue to $3.5 billion during the period, generating a net profit of $540 million.
Total customer base grew almost 6% to 125.8 million across the region, with a surge in mobile data and mobile money services customer bases.
Revenue in Nigeria, its core market on the continent, also jumped by 29%, contributing 1.9 million customer additions in the third quarter and taking total Group customer additions to 3.1 million.
With the PSB license, Airtel can now offer financial services including operating electronic wallets, carrying out payments and remittances, accepting cash deposits and issuing debit and prepaid cards, to locals in the country.
