MOBILE BANKING FOR THE UNBANKED
Of the 206 million people living in Nigeria , approximately half of that population is of an appropriate age to own a bank account . “ Of that population , just over 50 % of them are unbanked . That ’ s 50-millionplus people who don ’ t have access to banking services ,” says Sinfield . Earlier this year , the company became one of the first firms in Nigeria to receive the government ’ s new payment service bank licenses , as part of the government ’ s new initiative to increase financial inclusion .
In response , 9mobile has spun out a dedicated banking business to compete in the country ’ s burgeoning fintech space . Given his experience in finance , and previous work with mobile money solutions in other frontier markets , Sinfield notes that developing the new offerings has been extremely exciting and is looking forward to the launch of the new 9PSB .
“ What we ’ re developing is a standalone bank which is going to be an online service , but with additional elements of traditional retail banking ,” he says , agreeing that the service will be something of a hybrid between a digital-only challenger bank like Revolut or Starling , and a more traditional financial institution .
“ We ’ re going to have retail banking halls , as well as ATMs . The service itself can work on a host of different devices , from smartphones and tablets down to 2G feature phones . You don ’ t need to be on a smartphone or download an app to use it ; the whole service works with USSD strings ,” he says . “ It ’ s more than just mobile money . We ’ ve got the capability for people to have savings accounts , remittance accounts , and more . It ’ s a great way for us to both enable our customers and to help the government achieve its financial inclusion goals . It really does open up opportunities as financial inclusion also drives digital inclusion , which will really support growth in Nigeria .”
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