E-Financial
MasterCard, eTranzact Simplify Remittances for Nigerians
MasterCard has announced an agreement with eTranzact International plc, a leading pan-African mobile banking and payment services company, to make international remittance services available to millions of consumers in Nigeria.
Under the agreemen announced at the ongoing Mobile World Congress, citizens will be able to securely receive international remittances into their eTranzact mobile money wallets or select bank accounts through the international transfer hub, HomeSend.
A joint venture between MasterCard, eServGlobal and BICS, HomeSend bridges the gap between various entities globally such as financial institutions, non-financial entities and mobile network operators, enabling Nigerians living and working abroad to send money from mobile money accounts, payment cards, bank accounts or cash outlets back home.
“For millions of Nigerians, the receipt of funds from friends and family is an important lifeline. HomeSend provides senders across the globe and the recipients in Nigeria with a convenient, safe, and cost effective money transfer channel,” said Omokehinde Ojomuyide, Vice President and Area Business Head for West Africa, MasterCard.
Upon receipt of funds into their eTranzact mobile wallets, Nigerians can use PocketMoni, eTranzact’s mobile money platform, to pay bills, top-up airtime, pay select merchants, cash out at agents or at participating bank ATMs, and send money to any bank account, PocketMoni user, eTrazact card or mobile phone user.
“Our partnership with MasterCard enables us to bring a new, cost-effective, cross-border remittance service to Nigerians, many of whom have previously struggled to access such facilities as they do not have formal bank accounts,” said Valentine Obi, chief executive officer, eTranzact International Plc.
“Instead of travelling long distances and waiting in long lines, Nigerians will now be able to electronically receive cash transfers from family overseas with the convenience of their mobile devices.”
eTranzact, which is connected to and switches transactions for all of Nigeria’s major commercial banks, will also enable millions of consumers to receive remittances directly into their bank accounts.
According to the World Bank Migration and Remittances Brief, Nigeria is the largest remittance market in Africa and the fifth largest in the world, attracting US$21 billion in remittances in 2014, which contributed four percent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.
“We are pleased to partner with eTranzact to bring one of the most comprehensive international remittances offerings to Nigeria. This type of service has the potential to open up new remittance corridors, expand the scope of cashless money transfers, extend financial inclusion and support the growth of the economy,” said Ojomuyide.
Federal government has mandated banks and financial institutions to begin reporting monthly transactions exceeding N25 million for individuals and N100 million for firms to the tax authorities.
Under the new provisions of the Nigerian Tax Act, financial institutions are required to submit quarterly returns to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
The agency will be renamed to the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) from January 2026, when the new tax system will take effect.
“Every person who has an obligation to deduct and remit tax under this Act or any other Returns for tax legislation shall render monthly returns to the appropriate tax authority, as specified deduction of tax in the regulation issued for that purpose,” the Act reads.
“Without prejudice to section 142 of this Act, every bank, insurance company, stock-broking firm, or any other financial institution, shall prepare, with or without demand be delivered by the relevant tax authority, quarterly returns to the relevant tax authority specifying the names and addresses of new customers;Nigerian fashion trends
“…and existing customers in the case of (i) an individual, all transactions where the cumulative transactions in a month amount to N25,000,000 or more, or (ii) a body corporate, all transactions where the cumulative transactions in a month amount to N100,000,000 or more.”
Prior to the new tax law, banks were mandated to report deposits of N5 million — a measure intended to curb illicit financial flows, according to TheCable
Experts said the shift is part of efforts to tighten anti-money laundering reporting in the financial sector.
In 2023, Nigeria was listed on the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) over deficiencies in tackling money laundering and terrorism financing.
Since then, the country has been making efforts to exit the grey list, which subjects it to increased monitoring by the FATF.
In November 2024, Hafsat Bakari, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), said Nigeria has achieved upgrades in five key recommendations from the FATF.
Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBS) has revealed that the number of active bank accounts in the country increased to 320 million in the first quarter of 2025.
NIBSS also announced that the country’s cashless transactions rose to N295 trillion in the that quarter, up from N237.11 trillion in the corresponding quarter of 2024.
NIBSS disclosed this in its latest report on the country’s financial sector.
According to the data, the report highlighted the growing reliance on digital payments nationwide.
Details from the report showed that electronic payment channels were used 2.21 billion times in Q1, while point-of-sale, PoS terminals recorded 776.94 million transactions.
The NIBSS report corroborates ACI Worldwide data, which indicated that the volume of Nigeria’s real-time payment transactions will reach 19.7 billion by 2028, up from 7.9 billion in 2023.
“In Nigeria, real-time payments are quickly becoming a viable alternative to cash, historically the dominant choice for payments in the country,” ACI said.
Mr Wale Edun, minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the Economy, has inaugurated Mr Thompson Oludare Sunday, new managing director/chief executive officer of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), and Dr Kabir Sabo Katata, executive director (Operations), at the Ministry of Finance, Abuja.
Mr Wale Edun, minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the Economy, flanked by Mr Thompson Oludare Sunday, new managing director/chief executive officer of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), and Dr Kabir Sabo Katata, executive director (Operations),
In his speech during the occasion, the Minister submitted that the NDIC, as a component of the financial safety-net has a crucial role to play in the nation’s march to economic stability and prosperity.
He therefore charged the Management team to bring their diverse wealth of experience to bear on their new assignment while assuring them of the ministry’s full support in the task ahead.
Responding, Mr Sunday who spoke on behalf of the Management team, expressed appreciation to His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for their appointment.
He assured the Hon Minister of the readiness of the Management under his leadership to live up to expectations of the President in particular and the nation in general in the discharge of their duties.
The Management later received by the Corporation’s Head Office with a warm welcome by the workforce.
A statement signed by Hawwau Gambo, head, Communication & Public Affairs Department, revealed that Addressing the workers on behalf the Management team, Mr. Sunday promised to work in harmony with the staff to move the Corporation to its next level performance.
He stressed that the Management’s focus would be based on the public policy objectives, functions and mandate devolved on the Corporation by the enabling law that established it.
Thompson Oludare Sunday is a seasoned financial expert with over 30 years of regulatory and supervisory experience.
Having cut his teeth with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 1989, he went ahead to acquire high-end knowledge in Central Banking, spending 24 unbroken years in banking supervision.
While his vast experience is in the regulation and supervision of licensed institutions, his deep expertise span corporate governance, risk management and compliance as veritable tool for ensuring the safety and soundness of institutions.
He is a highly analytical and cross functional team worker with strong interest in building individual and institutional capacity for transformation and excellence.
Thompson’s skills and experience were horned by several key responsibilities and special assignments he handled for the apex Bank before his retirement as a Director 2021.
Kabir Sabo Katata, ED (Operations), is a quantitative energy strategist and computational finance expert with strong power trading and risk management experience.
He has over twenty-eight years’ experience in the design and management of technically innovative systems in multiple industries including telecommunications, IT, energy (petroleum & power), finance and government.
He is a specialist in sophisticated financial optimization, the application of modern statistical techniques and mathematics to energy, deposit insurance and banking sectors.
Dr. Katata joined the service of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2012 as an Assistant Director in the Research, Policy and International Relations Department and rose to the pinnacle of his career as Director in January 2022, before his new appointment as Executive Director (Operations).
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