Airtel Africa has disclosed that one of its subsidiaries, Airtel Mobile Commerce Nigeria Ltd, has received a super agent licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN).
The final approval followed an earlier approval-in-principle which was given by the apex bank back in November 2021.
This was revealed in a recent press release by Airtel Africa Plc signed by the Company Secretary, Simon O’Hara, and filed with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The statement reads in part: “Further to our announcement of 15 November, 2021, Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, today confirms that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has awarded its subsidiary, Airtel Mobile Commerce Nigeria Ltd, with a full super agent licences.”
Following this, Airtel said it will be able to create an agency network that will service both customers of banks and other mobile money operators in the West African country.
This comes after MTN Nigeria obtained Final Approval from the CBN to operate as Payment Service Bank on April 22, 2022.
Meanwhile, it is important to clarify that this super agent license is different from the payment service bank (PSB) license which Airtel received last year. The PSB would be operated by its subsidiary SMARTCASH Payment Service Bank Limited.
Recall that a recent Op-Ed on Business Insider Africa observed that telco-led banking is the new phase of fintech in Nigeria. Since the Nigerian Government first announced its willingness to issue payment service bank (PSB) licences back in 2018, the likes of Airtel, MTN and other non-bank players have all clinched their licences.
