April 26, (THEWILL) – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has awarded Airtel Mobile Commerce Nigeria Ltd, a subsidiary of Airtel Africa Plc, the full Super Agent licence to operate as an agency network.
Super agents are businesses that have been licenced by the CBN to recruit agents for agency banking, which involves providing financial services to communities on behalf of banks in order to increase financial inclusion.
The award was disclosed in a press release by Airtel Africa Plc on Tuesday, signed by the Company Secretary, Simon O’Hara, and filed with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The statement reads in part:“Further to our announcement of 15 November, 2021, Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, today confirms that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has awarded its subsidiary, Airtel Mobile Commerce Nigeria Ltd, with a full super agent licences.”
The company did not, however, state specifically when operations in that regard would commence, but stated that “the licence allows us to create an agency network that can service the customers of licenced Nigerian banks, payment service banks and licenced mobile money operators in Nigeria.”
This comes after MTN Nigeria obtained Final Approval from the CBN to operate as Payment Service Bank on April 22, 2022.
The super agent licence, however, is distinct from the Payment Service Bank (PSB) licence for which MTN had earlier received approval in principle on November 4, 2021.
Under the super-agent licence, Airtel would be able to create an agent network that can service the customers of licenced Nigerian banks, payment service banks and licenced mobile money operators in Nigeria.
Airtel needs the PSB licence to conduct financial services in Nigeria, such as accepting cash deposits, processing payments and remittances, issuing debit and prepaid cards, running electronic wallets, and other financial services.
According to the apex bank guidelines, the primary goal of giving PSB licences is to increase financial inclusion, particularly in rural regions, and to make transactions easier.
The PSBs may operate ATMs in some of their locations which will enable their customers to withdraw cash and are expected to function in rural regions and in areas where Nigerians do not have bank accounts.
Furthermore, they are expected to secure at least 50% physical access points in rural areas targeting access points that could be kiosks.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
