Tag: mobile payments systems

The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced that the transactions are taking off in the country.

According to a recent statement made by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the use of the financial institution’s mobile payments platform within that country has been gaining a great deal of ground.

The ease and convenience of the transactions have proven to be very popular in that part of Africa.

Dipo Fatokun, the director of the banking and payment system department at CBN, explained that mobile payments have been achieving a growing adoption rate in that nation. This announcement was made at the Mobile Money and Financial Inclusion: What’s the Next Big Thing day-long conference in Lagos, which was organized by the Brookings Institution of Washington D.C. and by Leeds Bryan International Limited.

It was also pointed out that as 4G internet service comes to Nigeria, this will only boost mobile payments use.

Fatokun indicated that CBN and mobile network operators had an ongoing agreement that made sure that mobile payments transactions could be maintained in a sustainable way, without hitches or outages. It was also indicated that as the country would soon be moving to 4G internet service, a broader network would be available from the current 3G in Nigeria.

In his statement, he added that “We in central bank on the issue of connectivity are at the last stage of an MoU signing with the Nigeria Communication Satelite (NICOMSAT) such that they would provide WIFI technology at various locations in Nigeria so that connectivity would be made easier.”

It was also explained by Fatokun that CBN has a focus on preventing transaction fraud in its mobile payments system through the use of an established electronic banking guideline which extends to transactions that occur over smartphones and tablets. He added that there are specifications for systems through which business must be conducted. It was also expressed that there are a number of technical details provided for how deployments can be made, and that smartphones do not have any specific security elements as is indicated by NCC, and that they would therefore not function over this channel.

Social network begins showing interest in mobile commerce

Facebook may be stepping into the mobile commerce arena as it begins testing its own mobile payments system. The social network has been looking for ways to improve its standing in the stock market and provide more value to the services it provides to consumers. Recently, this endeavor has manifested itself through the social network’s stronger focus on mobile marketing and providing analytic services to advertisers. Now, however, Facebook may be switching gears to embrace a trend that has been growing in popularity among consumers recently: Mobile commerce.

New service aims to streamline mobile payments

The social network is currently testing a service that will function as a companion to PayPal’s e-commerce services. The current stage of the test involves Facebook’s payments service to store and fill-in a consumer’s financial information in order to streamline the process of making a purchase using a mobile device. The service is meant to use this information to make the purchase of Facebook Gifts more convenient. The service is also meant to streamline in-game purchases for the various games that are supported on the social network.

Facebook won’t compete with PayPal or others

While Facebook is showing some interest in mobile commerce, the social network does not yet have any intention of competing with companies like PayPal in this sector. Currently, Facebook is primarily interested in making mobile payments easier for consumers. Considering that a fair amount of the social network’s users access the platform from their smartphones and tablets, the company is keen to ensure that these users are able to use the social network to their benefit.

New service could be a benefit to Facebook

This new initiative could be a major benefit for Facebook. It will allow the social network to determine whether ad-clicks turn into sales, which could provide the company with a stronger standing in the marketing sector. If this is the case, it could also meant significant return-on-investment for the advertisers that have been using the social network to reach out to and connect with its users.