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Mobile Banking will Create Opportunities- Akinware

Published

14 years ago

May 31, 2010

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Femi Akinware is the Chief Executive Officer of Tagattitude Nigeria, a subsidiary of Tagattitude France; a technology development company. Akinware has a background in technology markets Tagattitude’s NSDT (Near Sound Data Transfer) technology in Nigeria. He spoke to funmi ilesanmi.

Preparedness for Mobile Money
We are very prepared. We provide technology for mobile payments and mobile banking. We are very prepared because our technology is ready and what we hope to do is to provide mobile money technology and mobile payment technology to people who are licensed, banks, independent providers and telcos.
Possibility of Cards extinction with Mobile Money
I think there are spaces for both. The technologies will reside side by side. Most people who are looking at mobile banking are looking to provide for the unbanked, people who do not have cards today. There are people who are already banked who will continue to use their cards and there are people who do not have accounts now that mobile banking and mobile payments would allow to enter the banking space. Both are channels that will continue to exist.
Mobile Money
What we do at Tagattitude is that we replace the card with the phone so your mobile phone will do all the things a card does today. You will be able to make ATM withdrawals, you will be able to do POS transactions, web transactions, face to face and peer to peer transactions. What we have done is that we have moved all the functionalities of the card to the phone and our technology allows any phone on any network to work the same way a debit car works.
About Tagattitude
Tagattitude is originally a French company that provides mobile banking technology. Tagattitude Nigeria is the partner of Tagattitude France which markets that technology in Nigeria. Our technology is called NSDT- Near Sound Data Transfer. It allows any phone on any network to be used the same way a debit card is used. We use the sound channel of the phone to authenticate transactions, we do audio cryptograms to authenticate transactions and we work on multiple channels- ATMs, PoS terminals and we also have add-ons for existing PoS terminals.
Nigeria’s Setback in e-Payment
In other countries apart from Kenya, you don’t see a lot of countries that are significantly ahead of us in e- Payment. Every bank in Nigeria now has a mobile banking strategy. All of them are going to come on stream sooner than later.
Possibility of Fraud with Mobile Money
It would be attacked just like every other technology would be attacked but I think the banks know that and most people are going to put in place the required security and put in checks and balances into the system. I think ATM fraud gets more bad news than it deserves. The truth about it is that out of the millions of transactions that happen everyday, less than 0.01 per cent of them are prone to this fraud. It is just that if you go to the ATM and you made a successful transaction, you do not tell the public but if you go to the ATM and somebody deducts your money, everybody shout and shout. But I think the ATM fraud rate is a lot less than what people talk about and it has not killed the technology. I am not making excuses for it but I think people realize what the security challenge is and they are going to take that into consideration.
Service Availability
Everyday people make calls successfully. Today I have made like 50 calls and once or twice, it did not go through and I tried again and it went through; so it is not a bad failure rate. There are infrastructural challenges everywhere, when people say it is dependent on the networks and the networks are not reliable but you make calls everyday and the calls are reliable. Those calls go through, once in a while it doesn’t go through but you try again. This is not enough to kill the technology.
Regulating the e-Payment Space
I think there should be a collaboration between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over it. However, I think for both of them the extent in which they want to regulate should not go beyond ensuring security and reliability. We should allow free market to determine price, to determine skill, to determine acceptance. I am a firm believer in free market and capitalism and I think that ultimately the market space, the consumer and competition would determine who wins at the end of the day. I do not think the regulator knows what every customer wants, customer will determine what they want but it should not be open such that any Tom, Dick and Harry would come in but as long as there is a stable minimum requirements of reliability, security and fraud issues, people should be allowed to play in the market and the market place would determine who the winner would be.
Outlook of the e-Payment Space
There is a big opportunity for mobile banking in Nigeria. According to the CBN, only 25 per cent of the money in circulation goes through the banking system with most part outside the banking system. If you are able to bring in a significantly higher percentage into the banking system, we would see a lot more activities in our economy. We would see a lot more lending, a lot more business support, a lot more formal economy and our GDP will bring the country hope and achieve its promises.
Acceptability of Mobile Money
When it starts initially, people will test it to see whether it works. When they see that it works, the confidence level would increase gradually until it gets to a point where people begin to use it for their everyday transactions. If it fulfills their needs and help tem do what they were unable to do before, then they would be happy top adopt it. There are security challenges and all of that but it is up to the providers to9 ensure that there is security, there is reliability and once they do that, it is just a matter of being one step ahead of the fraudsters. Our technology for example has a security in place that makes it extremely difficult and expensive to defraud with. If somebody wants to defraud on a Tagattitude technology, the person has to spend a whole loot of money and have a whole lot of penetration into the telcos, the banks and the platform itself. I do not think anybody can successfully hack into our system because he wants to steal N10,000 or N20,000.
Identity Issues
There would be, because how many people in Nigeria have an identity card?
The CBN has set a certain threshold and people will play into that threshold. As time goes on, I think the threshold should increase because where it is now is very low, people do more transactions. If we can use the mobile phone to positively identify people and to authenticate transactions, then your mobile number is a unique identity.

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Uche Ikejimba Secures Sixth Consecutive AMVCA Nomination With Best Unscripted M-Net Original Nod

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4 hours ago

May 6, 2024

Ugo Onwuaso

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Uche Ikejimba, Award-winning producer, has secured her sixth consecutive Africa Magic Viewers Choice Award nod. The organizers made the nomination announcements on Sunday, March 24, 2024, across all Africa Magic channels. It saw Ikejimba clinch a nom in the ‘Best Unscripted M-Net Original’ category for What Will People Say.

In 2022, Ikejimba received two nominations for ‘Best Africa Magic Original Drama Series’ for Unmarried and Dilemma. She secured two other nominations in 2023 in ‘Best Unscripted Original’ for Come Play Naija and ‘Best Original Drama Series’ category for Unmarried.

Speaking about her latest nomination, Ikejimba said, “I’m very humbled and beyond grateful to be receiving my sixth consecutive AMVCA nomination. Anyone who knows me will acknowledge that I often put my blood, sweat and tears into the shows I produce. After Truth won its nomination in 2020, I’ve been holding on patiently for a second win and I hope this is the year. So, here’s my hearty congratulations to my fellow nominees and a huge thank you to the AMVCAs organisers for honoring me.”

Ikejimba is one of Africa’s most-sought after serial producers, and has earned herself the title, ‘Reality TV Series Savant’, with work on 100% Naija, Vodafone Icons, Naija Sings, Calabar Festival Diaries, Big Brother Reunion, Shoot Your Shot, What Will People Say, Come Play Naija, and the more recently airing Husband Material and Overall Best.

She came into the world of Television production as an associate producer on Moments with Mo, the first and only syndicated daily talk show in Africa at the time. However, she has also proven that her talents go beyond producing reality shows or unscripted serials, and she can run with the best in producing original drama series.

In 2016, she landed her first commissioned project with Africa Magic titled Hustle. The series about a young man’s first time in Lagos became an instant hit and ran for three seasons, with 360 episodes. She created, wrote and produced Blink’s original 26-episode drama series titled Truth. The show won an AMVCA for ‘Best TV Series’ in 2020. That same year, she produced and wrote the hit series, Unmarried. The show ran for four seasons and ended on a high.

Off the success of these drama series, she produced Africa Magic’s Dilemma, a 260-episode telenovela. She produced Shallow and the recent Africa Magic fanfavourite original, Manfriend. The show follows the women of the King family and their dysfunctional relationship with the men in their lives. She also produced Showmax’s first original law limited series, AGU in 2023. Her first feature length film, Phantom is a co-production and is also nominated for several awards such as the Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival (TINFF).

Uche Ikejimba has beaten many odds to become a producer and remained steadfast in her commitment to producing the best shows Africa has ever seen. As the continent prepares for the milestone 10th AMVCA, the Reality TV Series Savant and producer extraordinaire is content to celebrate her sixth consecutive nomination. Find out if she clinches her second AMVCA win when the awards air live across all Africa Magic channels on May 11, 2024.

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Banks Close 2m Accounts over BVN, NIN, Others

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4 days ago

May 2, 2024

Comms Week

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Commercial banks in Nigeria closed 2.021 million bank accounts in the first quarter of 2024, Q1’24, to clean their books of questionable accounts and comply with regulatory orders on the linkage of bank accounts to the National Identity Number (NIN).

This is contained in a report by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), which also indicated that the number of inactive bank accounts grew month-on-month, MoM, by four million or 2.0 per cent to 19.7 million in March 2024 from 19.3 million in the previous month, February.

A bank account is classified inactive when it records zero transactions including deposits, withdrawals, transfers or point-of-sale transactions for six months.

However, details of the “Industry Bank Account Database”, a monthly data reported by banks, and compiled by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System, NIBSS, also indicated that the number of active bank accounts grew by 6.62 million or 3.0 per cent to 219.64 million from 213.02 million in February.

Recall that in December 2023, the CBN issued a directive to all commercial banks in the country to restrict tier-1 accounts without proper Biometric Verification Number (BVN), and National Identity Number, NIN, that are not linked by Thursday, March 1st, 2024.

According to NIBSS data on BVN enrollment count, 61.6 million Nigerians have BVN as of April 2024.

Credit: Vanguard

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Dubai-Based Citizenship Firm Imperial Citizenship Expands to Lagos, Targets Africa’s Growing Wealth

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4 days ago

May 2, 2024

Ugo Onwuaso

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Imperial Citizenship, a Dubai-based firm specialising in Citizenship and Residency by Investment (CRBI) solutions, has set its sights on Africa’s burgeoning wealth with the launch of a new office in Lagos, Nigeria.

This strategic move positions Imperial Citizenship to capitalise on the continent’s growing population of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) seeking international investment and mobility options.

Imperial Citizenship boasts a proven track record of success, having secured over 2,000 approvals for clients seeking alternative citizenship and residency pathways. Their partnerships with over 15 governments worldwide provide a diverse portfolio of investment opportunities that adhere to strict international regulations.

With its Lagos launch, Imperial Citizenship begins its foray into Africa. The continent boasts a burgeoning HNWI population, according to PwC, presenting a lucrative market for investment firms like Imperial Citizenship.

According to the World Bank, African economies are projected to grow by 3.4 % in 2024 as the African Development Bank Africa has reported that Africa will account for eleven of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies in 2024. Highlighting the market’s potential, Mr. Zaid Al Hindi, Founder and CEO of Imperial Citizenship, says, “our expansion into Lagos allows us to directly cater to this affluent segment, offering them strategic solutions for global asset diversification, optimised investment opportunities, and enhanced global mobility.”

“At Imperial Citizenship, we do not operate through intermediaries, as we differentiate ourselves through direct government partnerships. This ensures transparency, legality, and efficiency throughout the application process, providing peace of mind for investment-minded clients” Zaid stated during the launch event in Lagos.

Speaking on the company’s approach to CRBI, Zaid mentioned, “At Imperial Citizenship, we prioritise a client-centric approach. We go beyond simply offering programs; we provide dedicated advisors who understand the unique needs and aspirations of each client. This personalised service ensures clients receive tailored investment options that align with their financial goals and risk tolerance”.

The launch of the Lagos office underscores Imperial Citizenship’s commitment to global expansion. With physical offices in Dubai and now Nigeria as well as operational representatives in Mexico, Algeria, and Turkey, Imperial Citizenship demonstrates its ability to cater to a geographically diverse clientele.

Looking ahead, Zaid highlighted that Imperial Citizenship plans to broaden its service offerings and expand its reach into new markets. By strategically targeting Africa’s rising wealth, Imperial Citizenship is well-positioned to solidify its role as a leading player in the CRBI industry, offering investors a gateway to global opportunities.

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