Skye Bank Merchant, Gidado emerge tops at mCash Re-Launch

Skye Bank mCash Merchant, Sulaiman Gidado, has emerged one of the top performing agents in the country. Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS) made this known when it identified Suleiman as one of the top mCash merchants at the mCash relaunch which held in Lagos Tuesday.

Part of  the renewed efforts to further drive financial inclusion in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s mandate, NIBSS, in collaboration with Banks, financial regulators, leading Telecommunications companies and merchants was the re-launch of the payment solution.

While fielding questions from the media about mCash at the event, the head of E-Business, Skye Bank Plc, Akinwale Ojo, described mCash as an innovative solution targeted at low-value retail payments

He further stated that, “The intention of mCash is to create enhanced  opportunity for people who rely mostly on cash to find convenient means of making payments electronically thus further enabling financial inclusion in Nigeria.”

 On his part, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NIBSS, Adebisi Shonubi, said, NIBSS partnered banks, telecommunication companies, financial regulators, and merchants on the initiative to further drive financial inclusion.

Shonubi stated that “the relaunch, which is in line with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s renewed efforts at driving financial inclusion was the rolling of agency networks involving the banks, telcos and merchants, and is thus ecosystem driven.”

According to the NIBSS boss, “in the next two years, the plan is to have 500,000 agent networks that will provide financial services as well as educate and inform people on how the platform works.”

The mCash utilises Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, USSD code in payment processing. Merchants can deploy mCash as a payment channel by registering with their banks, who will issue them an 8-digit seller code which buyers or payers need to use while making payments to them. A customer who wants to make payments through mCash has to dial the universal code, *402*SellerCode*Amount#. Upon dialling the code, the name of the seller will appear and a list of banks a customer wishes to make payments from. The user can then select a bank and input passcode to authenticate and complete the transaction. Upon completion of the transaction, both the buyer and the seller will receive flash confirmation of debit and credit messages instantly.

 Skye Bank is Nigeria’s leading retail bank with wide-ranging electronic solutions promoting consumer lifestyle and e-commerce experience for its customers.