E-Financial
MasterCard Lists Expectations from Digital Financial Services Lab
MasterCard has expressed its expectations Digital Financial Services lab recently launched in East Africa with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In a telephone chat with Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, Daniel Lanre Monehin, division president, Sub-Saharan Africa at MasterCard, said although the lab comes up in East Africa, MasterCard will ensure innovations and applications developed therein be used to leapfrog financial inclusion in the African Continent.
Globally, digital payment innovations let more people take advantage of formal financial services. These tools are simple to use, efficient and have the potential to dramatically reduce costs.
Despite these innovations, there are still 2.5 billion adults around the world who are excluded from the formal financial system. These people lack access to basic financial services and are forced to rely on cash, which creates instability and significant risks.
MasterCard is notable as a leading global payments solutions company that provides a family of well-known, widely-accepted payment card brands including MasterCard, Maestro and Cirrus and serves consumers, financial institutions, and businesses in over 210 countries and territories worldwide.
Monehin said that the new initiative seeking to impact more than 100 million people even globally, by developing practical and cost-effective financial tools that expand access and help build stable futures over the long term.
Specifically, the Divisional President said that Africans fates are now in their hands, hence MasterCard is interested in tackling issues related to biometrics, pensions, e-payment and cashless economy policies, and bring the financially excluded into the system.
He reiterated that through an $11 million grant over three years from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the lab will generate new ideas with local entrepreneurs, governments and other stakeholders across East Africa, and rapidly move from concept to reality.
“Although the lad is launched in East Africa, but the innovations coming from there will not only be implementable in East Africa, or Africa, rather MasterCard is interested in addressing several critical financial inclusion challenges. Every economy has its peculiar challenges; what we want is for Africans to develop applications that will serve the people and bring the financially excluded on-board,” Monehin said.
While expressing confidence on the viability of the project, he cited the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), one of the world’s first debit card-based payment systems for welfare benefits and social security, which has saved the country $350million over a five-year period.
He said, “MasterCard is passionate about the new innovation and we draw our inspiration, again, from the SASSA project in South Africa where the debit card issued to the citizens serves multiple purposes. Today, South African uses the card to disburse government pension, disability, and public assistance payments because of its biometric-debit card composition.
“Unlike normal debit cards, the South African cards require users to have their fingerprints and voices digitally analyzed by computers. In effect, they’re the next generation of the EBT cards commonly used for food stamps in the United States”.
In Nigeria, he said, MasterCard is passionately involved in the management of payments account specific information under the ongoing national identity management scheme, and hopes “the Card when activated will help in bring about 70% of the financially excluded Nigerians in the banking system; deepen e-payment and help in the disbursement of pension”.
Expatiating on the payments technology deployed by Mastercard under the program, Monehin said the eID card is a chip and pin card certified according to the EuroPay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) standard for globally interoperable, secure payments, which is mandated by the Federal Government, and it is approved and licenced by the CBN.
Thus, MasterCard’s vision for setting up the digital financial service lab was geared towards addressing issues where, “Many people lack access to the most basic financial services, leaving them trapped in a cash economy that imposes greater risks and costs on those least able to afford them.
He added that the investment made by the Gates Foundation, coupled with MasterCard strong innovation processes, they will create and scale financial services that open up a world of inclusion and help people build better, brighter futures.
Daniel who is primarily focused on establishing the MasterCard brand presence, driving card issuance, increasing acceptance, deploying innovative solutions and partnering with market regulators, noted that the new lab will be part of MasterCard Labs, MasterCard’s global Research and Development division that focuses on the evolution of technological and consumer trends and has created hundreds of prototypes over the last several years in a variety of areas from payment acceptance to authentication to P2P payments.
Nigeria’s Bank Verification Number (BVN) database expanded to 69.55 million as of July 5 2026 from 69.32 million in June 2026, according to latest data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).
BVN is an 11-digit biometric identification system introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria and managed by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) to secure customer accounts and reduce fraud.
This means that BVN enrolments increased by 228,947 between June and July 5 this year.
With the BVN database standing at 67.8 million as of December 31, 2025, it also means that the database grew by 1.75 million between the end of last year and July 5, 2026.
Specifically, with less than 1.8 million BVN enrolments so far recorded for this year, it is looking highly unlikely that BVN registrations at the end of 2026 will come close to the 4.3 million total registrations recorded in 2025.
Analysts note that while the expansion in the BVN database last year was largely driven by the introduction of the NonResident Bank Verification Number (NRBVN) initiative, which enables Nigerians in the diaspora to do their BVN enrolment remotely, thereby removing physical barriers and boosting cross-border financial engagement, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in March this year, announced a revised BVN regulatory framework, that saw it introducing stricter controls on suspected fraudulent transactions, BVN enrollment, and data access within the banking system.
According to the regulator, the amendments to the BVN framework, which came into effect on May 1, 2026, were aimed at strengthening fraud monitoring, improving identity management within the financial system and safeguarding the integrity of banking transactions, by strengthening identity verification and ensuring that BVN registration aligns with legally recognised age thresholds.
Thus, under the revised BVN framework, the apex bank introduced a stricter age requirement for BVN enrolment, limiting registration to 18-year-old individuals and above.
Also, under the new framework, customers will only be allowed to change the phone number associated with their BVN once. The CBN further stated: “Under the new guidelines, financial institutions are required to establish and maintain a temporary watch-list for BVNs linked to suspected fraudulent transactions reported within the banking system.
“A BVN may remain on this temporary Watch-list for a maximum period of twentyfour (24) hours, during which the BVN owner shall be contacted to provide clarification regarding the identified transaction(s).”
Launched on February 14, 2014, by the CBN in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee, the NIBSS, and the German firm Dermalog, the BVN scheme was designed to capture the biometrics of all bank customers and provide each with a unique 11-digit identification number that can be verified across the Nigerian banking industry.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reaffirmed that the standard N100 banknote remains legal tender across the country, warning that its rejection by individuals, businesses and institutions violates the law.
The clarification follows reports that some members of the public have refused to accept the standard N100 note over concerns about its legal tender status following the introduction of the commemorative N100 banknote issued to mark Nigeria’s centenary.
In a statement signed by Mrs. Hakama Sidi-Ali, acting director of Corporate Communications, the apex bank stressed that “both the commemorative N100 banknote and the standard N100 banknote are valid legal tender and must be accepted for all transactions nationwide.”
The CBN explained that the commemorative N100 note was introduced to celebrate Nigeria’s centenary and did not replace the existing standard N100 banknote.
The CBN cautioned individuals, businesses, financial institutions and other economic agents against rejecting the standard N100 note, noting that such action contravenes the provisions of the CBN Act and undermines public confidence in the national currency.
It warned that appropriate enforcement measures would be taken against any person or organisation found violating the law.
The apex bank reaffirmed its commitment to protecting the integrity of the naira, maintaining confidence in all duly issued banknotes and ensuring the smooth circulation of currency across the country.
The CBN also urged members of the public to continue accepting and transacting with all banknotes legally issued by the Bank and advised anyone seeking further clarification to use its official communication channels.
FCMB Asset Management Limited (FCMBAM), the asset management arm of FCMB Group Plc, has received an upgrade to its national scale long-term and short-term issuer ratings of A(NG) and A1(NG), from A-(NG) and A2(NG), by GCR Ratings, a leading pan-African credit rating agency.
The outlook on the ratings remains stable, said the rating agency.
The upgrade is anchored on FCMBAM’s competitive resilience and financial discipline, alongside the strengthened credit profile of FCMB Group.
GCR highlighted FCMBAM’s decade-long track record of strong performance, well-established brand franchise, diversified product suite and robust distribution network as key drivers of its standalone strength.
These are further supported by consistent earnings growth and a disciplined, unleveraged balance sheet, it said.
According to GCR, FCMBAM’s competitive position is supported by “its relatively long track record, strong brand franchise, established product and geographical distribution network and cross-selling opportunities,” with the rating agency noting that FCMBAM ranks among the top five asset managers in Nigeria, with an estimated five per cent share of a fragmented market as of 31 December.
The Company’s financial performance underpinned the upgrade, with revenue growing by 30 per cent and operating cash flow increasing by 13 per cent, enabling the business to be fully funded without recourse to debt.
Liquidity strengthened further, with liquidity sources versus uses improving to 5x as of December 2025, from 3.6x a year earlier, while the EBITDA margin edged up to over 58 per cent.
Commenting on the upgrade, the Chief Executive Officer of FCMB Asset Management, James Ilori, said: “This upgrade is an important external validation of a strategy we have pursued with discipline over many years: building an investment franchise that performs reliably, governs itself rigorously, and earns trust in every market cycle. It speaks to the strength of our membership of FCMB Group and to a culture that holds itself to local and global standards of risk management and capital stewardship.
“As Nigeria’s asset management industry enters a new era of higher capital thresholds and rising investor expectations, we intend to lead from the front – ahead of regulatory timelines, ahead in digital transformation and ahead in the outcomes we deliver for the clients who trust us to assist them in achieving their investment objectives.”
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