The Top 5 Payment Service Banks in Nigeria That Could Turn Your Phone Into a Bank

• The Central Bank of Nigeria has issued licences for payment service banks, mostly to telecom firms
• There are five payment service banks in Nigeria, Momo PSB (MTN), SmartCash PSB (Airtel), 9PSB (9Mobile), MoneyMater (Glo) and Hope PSBank
• The banks, per CBN regulation, are to service the rural areas and bring the unbanked population in Nigeria into the banking net

In October, Globacom, operator of the Glo telecom, launched its Payment Service Bank known as MoneyMaster to join other existing payment service banks such as Hope PSBank, 9PSB, owned by 9Mobile, MTN Momo PSB and Airtel’s SmartCash PSB.

The Central bank of Nigeria said the major objective of giving PSB licences is to boost financial inclusion, especially in rural areas, by increasing access to deposit and payment/remittance services to small businesses, low-income earners and households and others via high-volume low-volume transactions in a secured technology-driven atmosphere.

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PSBs to service rural areas and unbanked Nigerians

Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access report shows that about 38 million adult Nigerians, 36 per cent of the entire adult population are without bank accounts.

These financially excluded Nigerians are mostly low-income earners and low-literate persons residing in geographically inaccessible locations without information and communications infrastructures that are weak and absent.

BusinessDay reports that another survey by Global System for Mobile Communications indicates that mobile phone subscribers are about 46 per cent in Africa and smartphone adoption is about 64 per cent.

The report stated that the number would increase to 50 and 75 per cent respectively by 2025.

Telephone usage in Africa increase

Per data from Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the number of active mobile lines in Nigeria stood at 214 million as of October 2022.

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Also, telephone connections per 100 people are put at 112.5 per cent between January and October this year.

There are indications that more Nigerians are using mobile devices for financial and other business transactions, reducing the amount of cash in the economy. This can be done by using Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes provided by telcos in the country.

With its licencing as a Payment Service Bank, MTN’s Momo has about 188,000 active agents in Nigeria in a really digitised partnership infrastructure.

Customers can open a Momo wallet by dialling the 671 USSD code on any network to send money to any phone number in Nigeria and pay bills.

Codes for turning your phone into a bank

For Airtel SmartCash, users can dial 939 USSD from their phones to make transactions.

9PSB lets their customers send, receive and carry out transactions by dialling 990 from their mobile phones. Users can also open a 9ra account instant or fixed-term deposit account and earn interest upfront on savings.

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Prospective users of Hope PSBank can operate both individual and business accounts by dialling *569*9#. They can open accounts, check balances, send money and buy airtime.

Users of Glo MoneyMaster PSB can dial 995 and follow the voice prompts from any network.

CBN stated in a letter last week to the payment service banks and other financial institutions that it is restricting over-the-counter withdrawals to N100,000 weekly for individuals and N500,000 for businesses.

Also, the apex bank stated that ATM and Point of Sale (PoS) withdrawals would be limited to N20,000 daily.

Glo joins MTN and Airtel in starting banking service, as CBN gives approval

Legit.ng reported that Globacom, one of the largest telecom operators in the country, launched its payment service bank (PSB) two years after it secured the license.

Punch reports that the payment subsidiary, MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank, will provide financial services to millions of currently unbanked Nigerians.

Its service will be similar to MTN MoMo and Airtel's Smartcash, which started operations in 2022.

Source: Legit.ng