The compelling need to make transactions cashless without visiting a bank, thereby improving access to basic financial services such as consumer accounts, person-to-person transactions and remittances among the estimated 100 million Nigerians who are unbanked led the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) licensing financial and non-financial institutions to carry out mobile payment services.

Ahead of the CBN deadline to mobile payment licensees in the country to deploy products and services, ChamsMobile, one of the non-financial institutions licensed to provide mobile banking services, has successfully transited from pre-pilot phase into the pilot phase of its services in Lagos. The phase in which the ChamsMobile Solution drives basic transactions such as airtime vending, utility bills payment, international remittances, cardless withdrawals from ATMs, as well as fund transfers, without the customer visiting a bank.

According to Mathew Ogunbukola, Chief Operating Officer, ChamsMobile, the company embarked on a pre-pilot testing of the ChamsMobile Solution in Lagos before its eventual rollout because of the need to detect potential problems and learn from them to prevent such from becoming costly mistakes that will affect customers and company operations adversely.

“We have tested our mobile banking software, procedures, using end users and agent networks to ensure that they meet the regulatory standards of the CBN. This is because we are cognisant of the fact that mobile payment services have not been implemented before in Nigeria and we cannot afford costly mistakes,” he stated.

Shedding more light on the solution, Ogunbukola said it was a virtual account solution that interfaces with all traditional payment switches or bank accounts, enabling customers to transfer money from their regular bank accounts into their virtual account and effect payment for goods and services using any connected mobile enabled device across all major telecoms networks.

He went on to say: “The solution provides flexibility and convenience for users of the system to use one or multiple channels to access their accounts. It supports financial, informational and automated interactions through the mobile channel. An account holder can originate a transaction by initiating transfer from any payment card into their virtual account at a point of sale location, ATM, kiosk, merchant location or the internet.”

On his part, Demola Aladekomo, Chairman, ChamsMobile, identified identity fraud as a major challenge in the mobile and electronic payment environment because users were only identified electronically using PINs or password.

He however reiterated that the company had put in place security measures to prevent customers on their platform from falling prey to fraudsters. “We have put in place a system that requires the use of biometric authentication for crucial transactions to checkmate fraud and encourage users to embrace our solution. In addition, we have a strong customer service and agent management team positioned to provide effective and on-time dispute resolution, following best practices in process and procedures.

“ChamsMobile will also leverage its parent company’s wealth of experience and strong partnerships to expand Nigeria’s financial circle through an all-inclusive strategy to reach the unbanked and offer them a platform for empowerment that will change the way they transact business and live daily. “We are confident that through our unique solution we can finally begin to look at a cashless society as mobile payment becomes increasing acceptable at all levels in the society,” he disclosed.