Airtel Mobile Commerce Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Airtel Africa, has received approval in principle by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to operate as a super-agent in Nigeria. Airtel Africa's secretary Simon O'Hara revealed this information in a statement filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).
The statement reads: "Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, today announces that its subsidiary Airtel Mobile Commerce Nigeria Ltd has been granted approval in principle by the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate as a super-agent in Nigeria."
Similar to the PSB license, Airtel's newly acquired is subject to the Group (Airtel Africa) satisfying certain pre-requisite conditions, one of which is the statutory minimum capital. According to information on the apex bank's website, a firm must have a minimum shareholders' fund, unimpaired by losses of N50 million, alongside other conditions, before it is granted a super-agent licence.
It is imperative to note that the PSB license is different from the super-agent license. O'Hara throws more light on this. According to him, the PSB licence is required for Airtel to provide financial services in Nigeria, such as accepting cash deposits, carrying out payments and remittances, issuing debit and prepaid cards, operating electronic wallets and rendering other financial services.
On the other hand, the super-agent licence will enable the teleco giant to create an agent network that can service the customers of licensed Nigerian banks, Payment service banks and licenced mobile money operators in Nigeria.
Earlier this month, MTN and Airtel were granted a PSB license Approval in Principle (AIP), joining the list of telecos with a PSB license.
MTN, Airtel's rival, received a similar license (super agent) in 2019.
Nigeria in focus
GDP: $432.294 billion in 2020 compared to $448.12 billion in 2019
Population: 206,139,587 in 2020 compared to 200,963,03 in 2019
GDP per capita: $2,097 in 2020 compared to $2,229 in 2019
