Many Nigerians and business owners have switched to other financial services providers, especially fintechs like Opay, Palmpay, and Paga for a better experience after the recent bugs reported by users of commercial banks’ mobile applications and other digital channels in the aftermath of the currency crisis.
Fintechs, who have been granted permission by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to operate as mobile money providers, have been helping Nigerians in this tough period of bank failures, as they had hoped.
In addition to quick transfers, mobile money providers reward their users every day and charge no fees.
Some clients, who are ignorant of the license status of these financial service companies with the CBN, are worried about these freebies, nevertheless.
Some clients are concerned that these branchless ‘banks’ might one day vanish with their money because some of these offers seem too good to be true.
Yet in reality, the CBN has properly licensed these 17 neo-banks. This means that they are unable to vanish and that the funds under their care are secure.
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), like the commercial banks, insures deposits in these fintech companies as well.
To be clear, mobile money refers to the initiation, authorisation, and confirmation of a value transfer out of a current/checking, savings, or stored value account using a mobile phone.
The CBN reports that there are already 17 businesses in Nigeria with a license to operate mobile money services.
The 17 businesses listed below have been granted licenses by the CBN to offer mobile money services, albeit only a select number are currently well-known for their offerings.
On the list are:
Abeg Technologies Limited
Chams Mobile Limited
eTranzact International Limited
Fortis Mobile Money Limited
Funds And Electronic Transfer (FETS) Limited
Hedonmark Management Services Limited
Hedonmark Management Services Limited
MKudi Nigeria Limited
Nownow Digital Systems Limited
Pagatech Limited
Palmpay Limited
Parkway Projects Limited
Opay Digital Services Limited
Teasy International Company Limited
Visual ICT Limited
VTNetwork Limited
Xpress MTS Limited
Kongapay Technologies Limited
