Nigeria is becoming a hotbed of mobile payments development, with the nation’s largest banks and wireless telecom companies launching a mobile payments platform this month on the heels of recent initiatives from Visa and Mastercard.
Nigeria’s largest banks, along with four major wireless telecom operators are collaborating on
Backed by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System, mCash relies on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), a basic approach to texting that enables users to send funds in real time on any type of handset, including non-smartphones. Six Nigerian banks so far have also launched mCash and many more are poised to do so, in conjunction with telecom providers Airtel, Etisalat, Globacom and MTN, according to the mCash website.
To participate, merchants must register with their banks to accept mCash payments, and receive an eight-digit seller code. Consumers who enroll must add funds to their accounts at outlets of local banks or bank agents, enabling them to make purchases through their linked mobile phone number by entering a transaction code, plus the retailer’s code.
Nigeria's Fidelity Bank is one of several participating banks that rolled out mCash, short for “microCash,” in Lagos after a pilot with several local merchants, Fidelity said in a Nov. 7 press release.
“MCash is a new product that further eliminates the need for cash by offering a simple digital payment solution to the customers of deposit money banks no matter the type of phone being used,” said Gbolahan Joshua, Fidelity's chief operations and information officer, in the release.
Nigeria, Africa’s most-populous country, is driving rapid development of mobile payments for diverse participants targeting a large, unbanked population. Visa in August launched the
