General News
ATM Fraud Awareness is Education-Elegbe
Mitchell Elegbe is managing director/CEO, InterSwitch Limited, one of Nigeria’s major switching companies. Elegbe has significant exposure and in-depth knowledge of the industry, both local and international; technical knowledge and incomparable passion for business. His undying passion for nationwide switch gave birth to InterSwitch which today manages shared infrastructure. He spoke to chike onwuegbuchi and fumni ileasanmi.
From Magnetic Stripe Card to Chip and Pin
The initial design for the cards were chip and Pin but for economic reasons, we went for magnetic stripe, then, we were just starting, cards were expensive, it was a huge investment for banks at that time. So moving to chip now is only normal even if the Central Bank had not said we should, it was something that the bank would have to subscribe to later. However, the CBN has said it and acting in line becomes compelling and that is why you see a lot of interest being generated. There is a quicker decision; clear intension to ensure that these cards are moved to chip ultimately like the Central Bank gave us the impetus to make sure that this happens now.
Features of Verve
Everybody talks about security, people will tell you our cards are more secure, and just like saying my car is more secured. What exactly is security in this case?
Security like every other thing about life needs to address certain specific problems, so what are the problems we have today? There is the problem of cards being copied, that can easily be addressed by a chip card. So anybody that has a chip card today either it is InterSwitch or any other organization automatically would have achieved the same thing, so it doesn’t matter the name behind it.
However, does a chip card stop every kind of fraud? The answer is no, there are some kind of frauds that the chip card would not solve. For example, if you are going to make a payment on the internet to buy goods, if you don’t put your chip in it there is no how the internet would accept your chip. So your chip is your card number and Pin like in the days of magnetic stripe.
So what additional thing do you need to secure? What we have done, is that we have introduced chip education programme, the chip authentication programme that ensures that, you now have a card reader that stimulates the way you put your card inside the ATM and make serious transactions on the internet.
Identity Guard
We also have our identity guard that gives card holder a one time password, it is not the same Pin that you use every time. Every time there is a new password that can only be used once. Our fraud management initiatives were developed to address various types of fraud which we have seen in the last couple of years. It was developed using the MasterCard Mchip4 standard and has fraud management solutions incorporated into it. These are the different things we have done.
So the whole idea of fraud awareness is education. Instead of talking about seven different steps to tackle different fraud problems as we have seen it in Nigeria, there will be many more because as we are improving, the fraudsters also will attempt to improve even if it is in the negative side. Therefore, we want to keep on being on top of our game by trying to be one step ahead of the criminals.
Reward
You need to reward people when they are loyal to you. What we have done with the Verve card is that we have incorporated rewards, loyalty scheme inside the chip card, so it becomes possible for everybody to get rewards. It will now be the merchants, InterSwitch or the banks that determines the nature, magnitude and scope of the rewards. It is very flexible and there are about seven different kinds of rewards that we can give.
Convenience is very important. When I take my Verve card today and wants to be able to do everything I was doing before with my Magnetic stripe card, it is only with the Verve card today that can do that, because we know what we have being doing with over 28 million cards before Verve was launched. We could have launched a long time ago, like when we were in Calabar, we showed the Verve card but what we have been doing in the last six months plus is to make sure that other channels that card holders are used to using their cards are enabled. So that from day one they can seemingly enjoy what they have always being enjoying.
Besides, our chip and PIN enables merchants have online, real-time access to all their operations and activities. It ensures an enhancement of PoS terminals currently in many merchants’ locations across the country. Those are the things that I would say differentiates us from others and of course it is a Naija card, we know our problem, we know our challenges, we know our people so we have put all of these into the card to ensure that Nigerians can continue to enjoy.
Biometrics and Pin numbers
The cards can accept biometrics and accept PIN but biometrics have different challenges too. I am sure you have tried biometrics before sometime and you will be wandering whether your finger is still yours. So sometimes either because your fingers are greasy or because it feels as if your finger is dirty, it might not read. There are certain specific schemes especially for the unbanked where biometrics becomes critical for use, the fact is that the card can accept it today. Biometrics is not going to be widely spread, all the ATMs do not have biometrics for example, and to fix them will cost a lot of money. But there are some specific schemes that will come up that we just have to do biometrics. The cards today are ready for those kinds of schemes.
Oversea Payments
There are a lot of things that influences where you can use your card to make payments. When you start using your card to make payment on the internet, you are using Naira or Dollars. With the kind of problem we are having today, how do you want it to be?
When the issue of taking dollars out, there are regulations around such monetary controls that CBN has put in place. We need to ensure we comply that is why I am very shy to talk about that now because we are seeking approval, we do not have the approvals yet. That is why I said give us some weeks until the approvals are in place.
Confidence in Card Holders
It is part of the problems and challenges but luckily for us, we did not start seeing all these problems until we were done with many millions. The chances that if you asked ten people who have ATM cards, how many of them have been defrauded, maybe only one, maybe none in a group of ten so the people who are benefiting far exceed those who are trying to spoil it.
Even though the choice of using a card is a personal decision, you might have the card and choose not to use it because you are afraid. But if you have tried it once and nothing happened to you, even if the other man is telling you he was defrauded, you have not been defrauded yet and if you need money you will get money until it happens to you.
Our prayer is that before it becomes something that everybody is affected, we should have been able to solve most of the problems. Like 419 in those days, everybody has fallen to 419 at one time or the other but now we all know their tricks. We are aware once you see a 419 e-mail you know that, such mail is 419.
Before, they tell you, you have won something, these days, they don’t do this kind of things anymore, they are changing. They started by telling you, you have won something come and do something for you to claim your prize. They saw that, we are not falling prey to that one anymore, they moved to upgrade, that the system is undergoing upgrade, that you register your card number and PIN. When they saw that upgrade is not working anymore, they are now telling you your PIN has been blocked, come and register it to unblock it.
Capacity to Absorb Increment
If you want to be in the business of moving crates of minerals, seriously you will not go and buy pick –up van, you need to buy a serious trailer. In terms of capacity, what we have done is that we bought a trailer that will take maybe a 100 pallet and we have put one crate on it. Our worry is let the transaction come, when it becomes a problem we will talk. Our problem is ensuring that the trailer when it is driving on its own does not summersault on its own, because it doesn’t have enough weight. In business everybody prays for capacity to expand, if it extends to that stage its simple we have to expand the network, today we are not near our capacity.
Interconnectivity and Interoperatability
The issue of interoperatability is an old issue because if you go to a bank like Intercontinental Bank, you will see e-tranzact, InterSwitch, Mastercard and Visa that has been achieved. It is not an issue because we have connection with all the banks.
Network Availability
InterSwitch is not an entity that stands in isolation, we have connection with the bank. When we say network availability, it’s the same thing that connects us, we are using General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), sometimes the same problems we have with congestion in voice call, we also have experience it except if it is not the same network. So, the real challenge we have is not the bank thing, it’s basically telecommunications issues, where we use different kinds of service providers. For example, if you go to my village, you don’t have the kind of variety you can afford to have with service providers, so, you end up using the particular network that is available there. It might not be the best but that is the only one there, so you have to use it. But with time, it will improve even internet has improved significantly from the first time when we started.
Future of InterSwitch
I have just said Verve is designed by Nigerians for the world. Our vision is to see this Nigerian dream become something that is recognized and accepted worldwide. We believe we can; only time will tell. So keep praying for us, keep supporting us and we hope that five years from now, it will be a different story.
General News
Moniepoint Marks 10 Years of Transforming Nigerian Businesses

Moniepoint Inc., Nigeria’s definitive platform for small businesses and Africa’s all-in-one financial ecosystem, today released its 2025 Year in Review, marking a decade of “financial happiness” and a transformative year of growth.

Moniepoint
Highlighting its role as the backbone of Nigeria’s entrepreneurial economy with over 6 million active businesses, the company revealed that its microfinance bank has now disbursed over ₦1 trillion in credit to thousands of businesses from provision stores and supermarkets to building materials sellers.
It is worthy to note that on average these businesses experienced growth by more than 36% after accessing credit, signposting its primacy as a transformational growth level and instrument of deepening shared prosperity.
Moniepoint uses alternative data points that include transaction histories, business patterns and payment behaviours in a bid to accommodate what traditional credit scoring misses to drive financial inclusion and access to credit.
The company’s 2025 performance reinforces its role as a critical financial infrastructure which not only supports the Nigerian economy, but also impacts everyday lives, creating immense value.
Founded in 2015 by Tosin Eniolorunda and Felix Ike, Moniepoint Inc (formerly known as TeamApt Inc) has established itself as the leading financial platform for Nigeria’s vast network of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), offering an integrated suite of services, including digital payments, business bank accounts, credit, foreign exchange (FX), and management tools.
During the year, as Nigeria’s largest merchant acquirer, now powering 8 out of every 10 in-person payments made across the country, Moniepoint MFB, the banking and payments subsidiary, processed ₦412 trillion in transaction value handling more than 14 billion transactions. This clearly suggests that Moniepoint is well-positioned to play a greater role in Nigeria’s steady march towards a trillion dollar economy by 2030.
“Our journey has been one of intentional evolution,” said Tosin Eniolorunda, Group CEO and Founder of Moniepoint Inc. “What started as a passion to solve overlooked problems has evolved into a platform powering the dreams of millions.
“As 83% of employment in Africa exists in the informal economy, our mission to create financial happiness is an operational mandate that guides our product development, our market expansion, and our capital allocation decisions.”
Beaming with enthusiasm, Eniolorunda continues, “Yet for all we have accomplished, we approach our second decade with the clarity that our work remains unfinished.
“As we enter this next chapter, we do so with strengthened conviction in our strategy, deepened partnerships with world-class institutional investors, and an organisation scaled to deliver on Africa’s entrepreneurial potential.
“The infrastructure we have built over the past decade provides the foundation. The journey is far from over, but our resolve has never been stronger. To our partners, our customers, and our team: thank you for a decade of impact. We are just getting started.”
In 2025, Moniepoint Inc. reached a series of critical inflexion points, highlighted by the successful completion of its Series C funding round, which raised over $200 million in equity financing from leading institutional investors, including Development Partners International, Google’s Africa Investment Fund, Visa, the International Finance Corporation, and Verod Capital.
The year also marked the launch of MonieWorld in the United Kingdom, extending Moniepoint’s platform to serve the African diaspora by strengthening key remittance corridors and laying the foundation for the delivery of comprehensive cross-border financial services.
Moniepoint MFB re-launched its savings product in a firm demonstration of the company’s commitment toward its’ oft stated mantra of providing financial happiness. Data reveals in terms of savings behavioral patterns, the majority of users choose to save on a daily basis, with focus across business operations (24%), rent (16.5%), and education (10%) representing top savings priorities.
The launch of Moniebook and the acquisition of a national Microfinance Bank license for Moniepoint MFB further expand the company’s regulated capabilities and product depth.
TeamApt Ltd, the switching and processing subsidiary of Moniepoint Inc., also achieved major regulatory and operational milestones in 2025 that have solidified its position in the global payments landscape. After a rigorous certification process, the company successfully secured licenses from Mastercard and Visa to act as a processor and acquirer for these global card schemes..
This strategic move allows TeamApt to support international card payments directly and offer these critical switching services to other businesses across the continent.
Monnify, the web payment gateway processed N25 trillion in the period under review, demonstrating remarkable resilience and industry confidence firmly positioning it for more business-to-business transactions.
Moniepoint’s impact extended beyond banking into critical social interventions even as the company partnered with the Federal Government to support the Rice Intervention Programme, reaching nearly 850,000 beneficiaries, and worked with the Kaduna State Government in grants disbursement to vulnerable citizens.
Through these initiatives, Moniepoint continues to build the infrastructure required to unlock Africa’s entrepreneurial potential, positioning itself as a trusted partner for the delivery of large-scale economic empowerment programmes.
As Moniepoint Inc. enters its second decade, its well chronicled decade-long evolution from a backend technology provider to a household name, directly complements the Nigerian government’s vision of a more inclusive, data-driven, and productive financial landscape. To read more about the 2025 Year in Review Report:, visit http://2025.moniepoint.com
General News
MTN Group Names Shoyinka Shodunke IT Core Design Executive Ahead of March 2026

MTN Group has announced the appointment of Shoyinka Shodunke as Executive: IT Core Design and Delivery, effective 1 March 2026.

Shoyinka Shodunke
Shoyinka brings more than 29 years of experience in technology leadership, digital transformation and innovation across Africa’s telecommunications sector.
His career spans several senior roles, including Director of Technology at Vodafone Ghana, Chief Technology and Information Officer (CTIO) at MTN Cameroon, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at MTN Zambia, and General Manager: Architecture for the MTN Shared Services Hub in Southeast Africa.
He currently serves concurrently as CIO for MTN Nigeria and MTN South Africa, where he has led large-scale digital initiatives impacting more than 80 million subscribers and overseen a technology ecosystem comprising over 350 professionals.
Shoyinka is recognised for a leadership approach anchored in adaptive intelligence, resilient system design and collaborative value creation.
His work has focused on leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance human creativity, strengthen system resilience and drive innovation at scale.
In 2025, he was named MTN Group CIO of the Year for his role in advancing one of Africa’s most ambitious digital transformations, supporting MTN’s evolution from a traditional telecommunications operator into an AI-enabled technology organisation.
He also received the Tech Champion in Telecoms and CIO of the Year awards at the CIO and C-Suite Awards Africa.
His academic background includes an Advanced Management Programme (AMP) at Harvard Business School, an MBA from the University of Northampton, a Postgraduate Diploma in Global Management from the University of Salford Manchester, and a Bachelor of Technology in Mathematics and Statistics from the Federal University of Technology in Nigeria.
In his new role, Shoyinka will lead the development and execution of standardised and AI-enhanced IT architectures across MTN’s footprint.
His responsibilities will include integrating AI-driven automation, predictive analytics and digital transformation initiatives to improve customer experience, operational efficiency and service agility, while accelerating innovation cycles and time-to-market.
General News
Kaspersky Reveals How Digitalisation is Influencing Family Life

Kaspersky’s latest global research shows that mostly all people currently interact with their family members digitally: 86% of all participants communicate with family via messaging apps, 58% have regular video calls, and 44% have even established joint streaming service accounts.

While digitalisation offers unprecedented convenience and flexibility in family communication, Kaspersky experts warn that this increased online connectivity demands a heightened awareness of digital safety practices and the protection of devices.
Communication in the digital sphere has become an integral part of everyday life. Thanks to video calls and instant messaging, we can maintain connections with our loved ones, no matter where we are.
Digitalisation has reshaped not only how we communicate, but also how we spend our free time together. Kaspersky has conducted a survey* to reveal the common patterns of modern family life in the digital age and discover the cybersecurity challenges that lurk beneath our screen interactions.
Cyber safety during family communication
According to the survey, regular messaging via WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Viber and other messenger apps were top of users’ choices when communicating with their families.
People in the 35-54 age group were the most likely to engage this way, with 89% of respondents choosing this option. Video calls were a much less popular option among respondents as a way of keeping in touch with relatives, with only 58% choosing this digital solution.
Another popular way of staying connected online for many families is exchanging posts and memes on social media and messengers (53%). The 18-34 age group leads this trend with a 58% participation rate, showcasing how humor and shared cultural references are becoming essential family bonding mechanisms.
The older generation (above 55 years old) is in general less digitally engaged than other ages, though the share of those who chat with their families in messengers is on par with the average (85%). 42% of this age group even exchange memes and posts via social media.
Despite the fact that older people are more active in the digital sphere, they may still not be ready to face cyber threats and scams. Users should therefore educate their older relatives on how to stay safe online and use gadgets securely.
Even for advanced users, communication online carries potential cyber security risks. From phishing attempts disguised as legitimate messages to sophisticated social engineering attacks, the digital battlefield operates within our most personal communication channels.
To ensure the complex protection for your messengers it’s highly recommended to enable two-factor authentication where possible, use unique, complex passwords for each account, remain skeptical of unexpected links or attachments, use a reliable security solution with anti-phishing protection for messengers and follow security tips from Kaspersky experts.
Family accounts – convenience or risk?
The survey shows that in their free time 70% of families choose to watch movies together, with 44% having family streaming accounts. Online games do not have such popularity as a family pastime, with only 35% of general respondents opting for them.
While sharing streaming subscriptions and gaming accounts may seem like a cost-effective solution, it opens the door to a host of digital vulnerabilities that can compromise your family’s security and privacy, especially when an account is used by different family members under the same login and password. Such accounts create a perfect storm for security breaches.
If one family member’s device is compromised, hackers gain access to the entire account. Additionally, password reuse across multiple platforms means that a single breach could expose your financial information, email accounts, and other sensitive data. To manage all passwords securely, it’s highly recommended to use a password manager for all family members.
“As our family life moves more and more online, it opens up amazing ways to stay close and create memories – but it also brings new risks, like scams and hacking. Kids and older relatives can be especially at risk, so looking out for each other online is really important.
“Protecting your digital privacy and using cybersecurity measures is an important way to care for your loved ones and keep your family safe”, comments Marina Titova, Vice President for Consumer Business at Kaspersky.
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