Customers of MTN who use the telecom operator’s mobile money services will from next year have access to loans.
Citi Business News has gathered the telecom giant has begun negotiations with regulators to start rolling out mobile based lending services from 2017.
This is not the first time that a telecom operator is embarking on such a move.
Airtel this year began rolling out a similar service but was forced to put it on hold due to regulatory challenges.
Airtel partnered with Fidelity Bank, and Tiaxa, a global leader in Nano credits to launch Airtel Money Bosea.
Airtel Money Bosea is a Nano loan scheme that provides access to financial services enabling customers to borrow money instantly through their Airtel Money wallet anytime, anywhere.
It is unclear how far MTN has gone with discussions with regulators including the Bank of Ghana to begin rolling out the service.
In an interview with Citi Business News at the side lines of the Press Launch of HFC and MTN Partnership for Mobile Money Services, the General Manager for Mobile Financial Services at MTN, Eli Hini said they will continue to be innovative in order to draw more people into the banking sector.
‘‘’We have micro lending which is one of our undertakings for 2017. A lot of micro credits that people can access for short to medium term.’’ Mr Hini said.
‘’ Don’t forget our economy is largely made up of SMEs so these SMEs will be able to have such avenues to do short term borrowing and pay back because they will be able to manage their KYC information much better that way and the banks can have access to these data which they can use for validation to these funds that they give out ‘’. He added.
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By: Anita Arthur/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
