Four years after its introduction into the Nigerian financial system, the benefits of mobile money is yet to be optimised due to inadequate agents to facilitate faster growth.
According to the director, Banking and Payment System department of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Dipo Fatokun, while transactions on the mobile money platform exceeds N5 billion annually, it is yet to meet expectation of the CBN.
Fatokun who also doubles as the Chairman of the Nigerian Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) while speaking at the unveiling of the forum’s 2014 annual report in Lagos at the weekend noted that “expectations of mobile money have not fully been met and that probably is because we were a little ambitious in setting the target.”
Stating that despite the slow growth in the platform, transactions on mobile money run into billions, he explained that this could be attributed to the agency issues the platform had.
The NeFF chairman noted that the CBN had given approval in principle to two telecommunication companies to operate as super agents in a bid to kickstart the speed of the policy.
Speaking on electronic fraud in the country, Fatokun noted that while volume and value of fraud has been on the increase globally, “in Nigeria we count ourselves to be fortunate because we have put so many controls in place and an assessment shows that Nigeria is not doing badly compared to so many other countries in the world when it comes to cybercrime and e-fraud.”
He stressed the need for collaboration amongst banks in the fight against electronic fraud. “As the world becomes interconnected, every organization must work together to secure the cyber space.”
He further enjoined bank customers and users of e-banking to be aware of the tactics of fraudsters and inform their banks if they suspect anything as part of measures to curb fraud in the country.
Also speaking at the meeting themed “Cyber Security: The Need For Standards”, Nkiru Ojo of Stanbic IBTC, noted that globally about $445 billion is being lost by businesses annually to cybercrime.
Noting that over 20 per cent of companies are expected to be affected by cybercrime this year, she stressed the need for companies to have malware devices that is frequently updated, adding that they must constantly be ready to battle cybercrime.
Amount lost to fraud had risen to N6.21 billion in 2014 compared to N485.19 million which was lost to electronic fraud in 2013. Fraud perpetrated through ATM channel was recorded the highest fraud in 2014 with N2.688 billion lost compared to N54.99 million lost in 2013 followed by N2.12 billion lost to fraud through Internet banking in 2014 as against N271.76 million lost in 2013. This shows a growing trend of fraud towards ATM channels.
Why Mobile Money Is Yet To Pick Up – Fatokun
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