MTN Nigeria has reported that deposits held for mobile money (MoMo) customers rose to N1.091 billion as at June 2022.
Cash held for MoMo customers relates to MoMo customers’ deposit liability for the period. The deposits held for MoMo customers are measured at their carrying amounts considering that these are either due or demandable at short notice. The corresponding assets are held as restricted cash.
“As at the end of June 2022, we recorded 4.2 million registered MoMo wallets of which 2.4 million are active, generating MoMo transaction volume of approximately 7 million within six weeks of operations,” MTN Nigeria CEO, Karl Toriola said.
“Having commenced MoMo PSB commercial operations, our goal is to build an inclusive platform for customers, ecosystem partners and other stakeholders. In addition, we plan to provide more advanced services working with ecosystem partners in the country.”
MTN Nigeria was recently granted final approval for a Payment Service Bank (PSB) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This will enable the Telco to offer financial services in line with the CBN’s guidelines and support the government in fulfilling its agenda of driving financial inclusion in Nigeria.
For Airtel Africa, its Mobile Money revenue grew by 28.6% in reported currency, with constant currency growth of 26.5%, showing the potential for the operations in Nigeria.
The reported currency growth was higher than constant currency due to appreciation in the Zambian kwacha. Excluding Tanzania, mobile money revenue grew by 34.2%. The constant currency mobile money revenue growth was driven by revenue growth in both East Africa and Francophone Africa, of 26.9% and 25.4% respectively.
In Nigeria, Airtel’s mobile money services (Smartcash) launched in June 2022.Airtels mobile money customer base increased to 27.6 million, up by 19.7%.
Airtel’s Mobile money customer base penetration reached 21.0%, an increase of 1.9 percentage points. Mobile money ARPU growth of 5.9% was largely driven by an increase in transaction values and higher contributions from cash transactions, merchant payments and mobile service recharges through Airtel Money.
MTN Nigeria reported Profit before tax (PBT) up 24.9% to N268.6 billion in the 6-months period to June 2022. Profit after tax (PAT) grew by 28.1% to N181.6 billion, while earnings per share (EPS) rose by 28.1% to N8.92 kobo.
Capital expenditure (Capex) rose by 67.1% to N311.6 billion. On 28 July 2022, the Board approved an interim dividend of N5.60 kobo per share for the period ended 30 June 2022, up by 23.1%.
Airtel Africa revenue grew by 13.0% in reported currency to $1.257 billion. Total revenues, for mobile services and mobile money services combined, grew in Nigeria by 18.3%, in East Africa by 14.1% and in Francophone Africa by 11.7%. Profit after tax grew by 25.3% to $178 million.