Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone, Momodu Kargbo yesterday said at the launching of the “Guidelines for Mobile Money Financial Services” in Freetown that mobile money services were effective in the payment of Ebola frontline workers across the country. The objective was to illustrate the importance of mobile money services for the unbanked in rural communities with the aid of mobile phones.
The launching was at the Bank of Sierra Leone Recreation Complex in Kingtom.
“You do recall the period of the Ebola and you do recall at some point newspapers carry problems about hazard payment, [and] Ebola workers having problems receiving their payments,” Mr. Momodu Kargbo stated. “It is when the bank led model that is being practised here with the commercial banks, community banks and microfinance institutions working together that helped address the problems all of a sudden.”
Mobile Financial Services is a cheaper alternative to conventional branch-based banking that allows mobile money service providers to offer financial services by the use of mobile phones.
Citing the importance of mobile money services, Mr. Kargbo noted in his keynote address that since 2012 mobile money has been growing in outreach and clients. Splashed mobile money started in 2012 with 30 outlets and 10,000 clients. About 6 months later the outlets grew to 150 and registered clients were 50,000.
“As we all know, the world is going digital and e-commerce, virtual money and mobile payments are upon us. Therefore, we in the Bank of Sierra Leone cannot sit back,” the Bank Governor said. Mr. Kargbo sees mobile money as a means for financial access that will lead to inclusion in terms of jobs, poverty reduction and bridging both the informal and formal economy.
Splash, Airtel and Africell are the mobile money service providers currently.
Mobile money transfers have been a huge success in Kenya and Zimbabwe. Other countries that are not far from the successes made by the two countries are Tanzania, Uganda, Burkina Faso and Malawi, among others, according to the representative of Airtel, Clifford Roy Macauley.
“In all those countries mobile callers and commercial banks have complemented each other very effectively to bridge formal economy and informal economy with the wide penetration of mobile companies and such merger is the very first step for the banking for the unbanked,” Mr. Macauley said.
He stressed that over 20,000 health workers were paid weekly through this process. Close to 400,000 Airtel customers use mobile phone commerce more than 10 times a month for various financial transactions, he said. “You might have seen us deploying 1,000 solar powered kiosks all over the country which will be acting as entrepreneurs and virtual bank branches.”
The president of the Sierra Leone Commercial Banks Association, Hasiatu Jalloh said Mobile money has become a core product for mobile network users that “has the unique assets and incentives to deliver services in a sustainable and scalable way, hereby including financial inclusion.”
Mobile money is now available in 61 percent of the developing world including Sub-Sahara Africa. She emphasized that Sierra Leone will soon be recognised as one of the countries reaching the unbanked through mobile financial services.
UNDP Country Director, Carine Yengayenge stressed that mobile money services helped with the payment of health workers and therefore necessary for rural communities and reaching the unbanked. The launch of the guidelines is in collaboration with UNDP.
Almamy Bangura, Director of Research in the Finance Ministry said launching of the guidelines is all part of the financial inclusion strategy noted in the ministers budget speech to parliament. “We welcome developments taking place in the financial sector particularly mobile money services. This will help us diversify the economy and create employment,” he said. “We should be able to capture the contribution of the mobile financial service as part of the wider economy.
Wednesday November 18, 2015
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