The payment service subsidiary of MTN Nigeria, MoMo PSB, recorded a 1.2 million increase in its customer base in the first quarter of this year, which brought its total active MoMo wallets to 3.2 million.
MTN disclosed this in its Q1 financial statement, adding that this growth boosted its fintech business in the quarter. According to the company, MoMo users now accounted for 43.2% of its fintech customers. This came as the company expanded its agent network further by adding over 40, 000 active agents, bringing the total number to approximately 264,000.
MTN said the increase in wallets was also boosted by its reopening of the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) interface for inbound and outbound transfers, which enabled the company to accelerate full commercial activities and grow active wallets. The company, however, noted that its fintech business was affected by the cash shortages during the period, which slowed OTC transactions, resulting in a 31.1% reduction in its total fintech users to 7.4 million.
Fintech Revenue Growth
Commenting on the company’s fintech business performance for the quarter, MTN’s CEO, Karl Toriola, said the company’s fintech revenue increased by 8.6% in Q1.
“Growth was led by revenue from our core fintech services (wallet and super-agent business, up 63.8%) but moderated by the impact of the cash shortages, which affected Xtratime (our airtime advance product, up 5.3%).
“Digital revenue grew by 41.2% as the adoption of our digital products continues to grow with user journey optimization and the growth of the active base, up 58.4% to 11.7 million.
“Revenue growth was driven mainly by rich media services, supported by mobile advertising and content VAS. We continued to expand our rich media services portfolio with our recent partnerships with Amazon and Apple to bring Amazon Prime Video and Apple Music, respectively, to our customers,” he said.
While noting that the company was well-positioned to drive the growth of active wallets and merchant ecosystems with consumer education and commercial activities, Toriola said MoMo PSB would also be leveraging its agent network to take the service closer to its customers.
MTN was issued Payment Service Bank (PSB) licence last year alongside the three other mobile network operators, Airtel, Glo, and 9mobile to deepen financial inclusion in the country. As a PSB, MoMo can collect deposits and offer savings accounts to its consumers. Individuals and small enterprises are among their clients. It can also facilitate cross-border transfers through all of Nigeria’s available methods