Airtel Africa, a UK-based mobile money company active in Africa, recently launched Smartcash Payment Service Bank (PSB), to expand the range of financial services it offers in Nigeria. The move follows Airtel Africa having received a “super-agent” licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria, enabling the company to build a network of agents to provide financial services as representatives of the country’s licensed banks. Smartcash PSB’s offerings include payments, remittances, deposits and debit cards for individuals and small enterprises. Airtel Africa CEO Segun Ogunsanya noted that the goal of the new bank is to “contribute towards driving financial inclusion in Nigeria, to empower Nigerians transforming the payment landscape in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.”
Founded in 2010, UK-based Airtel Money uses the trade name Airtel Africa to offer financial services in 14 African countries. These services include deposits and withdrawals from mobile wallets; merchant and commercial payments; and virtual credit cards. For the fiscal year 2022, the firm reported 128 million customers and after-tax profits of USD 1.5 billion on total revenues of USD 4.7 billion. India-based Bharti Airtel, its parent company, serves 480 million customers in 17 countries as of July 2022.
By Saulius Simonas Ramanauskas, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
Pymnts.com article
https://www.pymnts.com/news/banking/2022/airtel-africa-launches-smartcash-payment-service-bank
Smartcash PSB homepage
https://www.smartcashpsb.ng
Airtel Africa homepage
https://airtel.africa
Bharti Airtel homepage
https://www.airtel.in
Previous MicroCapital brief on Airtel Africa and Bharti Airtel
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-mastercard-buying-3-8-equity-stake-in-mobile-money-unit-of-airtel-africa-for-100m
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