Mobile Money: GTB’s Robust Banking Pedigree Is An Edge

*Segun Agbaje, GTBank MD/CEO

BY ROMMY IMAH

It is no longer speculation but has become a reality that the cashless society regime proposed by the apex financial institution in the country, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has come to stay. It is a revolution that will involve about 11 mobile money operators for a start, telecoms operators as well as the commercial banks in Nigeria.

The Central Bank of Nigeria says Mobile Money Service is aimed at promoting savings in addition to enabling people carry out financial transactions, including sending and receiving monies from phone. The service will also enable a subscriber to buy airtime both for self and others, pay bills, pay for goods and services in shops and on the Internet.

This revolution may not have come the right time than now if a research compiled last year by Microfinance Information Exchange, MIX is anything to go by. MIX had reported that Nigeria ingloriously lies in the first position in Africa as the country with the largest number of people with little or no access to financial services. The country is said to have the largest gap between populations living in poverty and those with access to financial services.

Promoters of this new regime argue that the benefits derivable from mobile money service are enormous. They include financial empowerment, job creation, increase in income of rural dwellers and the absence of Cost of Transaction, CoT often charged when one is doing direct transaction with the bank. It will also increase the tempo of business activities as well as move cash to the hands of people.

Nigeria is following the footsteps of Kenya where M-PESA has changed the face of banking and financial transactions. As a branchless banking service, M-PESA is designed to enable users to complete basic banking transactions without the need to physically visit a branch of a bank. M-PESA is today a huge success story.

Some banks have already embraced this new regime and leading the pack is Guaranty Trust Bank, GTB Plc known for its pacesetting position in banking and financial services in not only in Nigeria but countries where it has operational licenses. The bank in line with the revolution sweeping across the financial sector of the nation’s economy has launched a mobile

payment and remittance service called ‘GTBank Mobile Money’ in a strategic partnership with leading telecommunications services provider, MTN.

GTBank is also providing mobile money in partnership with Fortis Mobile Money. Fortis Mobile Money is a convenient, secure and innovative mobile payment service that enables all mobile and non-mobile phone subscribers in Nigeria to send, withdraw and save money, pay for goods and services through a mobile phone. It is also designed for existing bank account holders that choose to conduct financial transactions through their mobile phones in a convenient manner and those without a bank account, currently unbanked and/or underserved.

Managing Director of the GTBank, Mr. Segun Agbaje said the mobile money service was designed to be a convenient, secure and affordable way of sending money using a mobile phone.

According to him, “We are introducing this new service to enable people conduct low volume transactions through a network of Retail Agents rather than rely on traditional banking branches. More people have mobile phones today, and GTBank Mobile Money is an expansion of this channel to allow people use their phones to transfer money as well as pay for goods and services. MTN with its nationwide network of distributors has been strategic in this regard.”

Agbaje noted that a large number of income earners do not presently maintain banking relationships with any financial institution, but they do have mobile phones and added that GTBank Mobile Money Service will provide a lot of them with an effective channel to conduct their daily transactions, whilst supporting the Federal Government’s efforts to ensure their financial inclusion.
In his words, “the Bank understands the peculiar needs of today’s discerning financial customers, hence its introduction of innovations like the Fast Track Pin Pad Service, the GTBank e-branches, which are open 24 hours a day and the GTCrea8 eSavers account, which allows undergraduates to utilize banking facilities how and when they want.”

MTN Nigeria’s CEO, Brett Goschen said the partnership with GTBank goes beyond using MTN’s vast telecommunications’ technology as a transaction processing platform for Mobile Money but that it is part of the company’s vision to transit from being the country’s leading telecommunications provider to becoming the leading ICT company by leveraging its cutting edge technology to deliver a variety of solutions to Nigerians in a way that positively impacts their lives and offers enablement in many ways.

“The greatest beneficiaries of GTBank Mobile Money will be rural dwellers, who hitherto lack access to basic financial transactions. For these people, GTBank Mobile Money will be an enabler of economic development through increased access to funds; which all tie in to MTN’s brand essence of enriching lives,” he said.

Goschen said as an enabler with the widest GSM coverage in the country, MTN network remains the most reliable and innovative network that has the capacity to serve many financial service providers as they roll out Mobile Payment Services and noted that GTB made the right choice by partnering with MTN in this project.

A very effective platform to pay for goods and services when people do not have immediate access to cash, by simply using their mobile phones, the new GTBank Mobile Money Service is designed to enable convenient transfer of funds among MTN and non-MTN customers alike.

Both Deji Oguntonade, Group Head, E-Payment Solutions, GTBank and Usoro Usoro General Manager, Mobile Money MTN are both of the view that GTBank Mobile Money offers a fast, safe, easy, convenient and affordable way to send and receive money and make payments for goods and services across the country.

The GTBank Mobile Money platform allows phone to cash transfers, scratch card upload, phone to phone transfers, and airtime purchase amongst others. GTBank’s robust banking and IT infrastructure and MTN’s expertise in the communications industry has seen the mobile money partnership go a step further in bringing banking services closer to the population, especially the unbanked who are more likely to have a cell-phone than a bank account.

The distinctive feature of the GTBank Mobile Money service is its capacity to allow subscribers whose SIM Cards have been duly registered in line with Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) directive, to send cash to recipients that do not have mobile phones or bank accounts. All the recipient needs is to visit the nearest accredited MTN agent to cash out the funds.