Economy
Things You Need to Become A Mobile Money Agent in Nigeria
By Adedapo Adesanya
In pursuit of expanding financial services and capturing more people into the banking net, a new venture was carved out by financial institutions in Nigeria, which is spreading by the day.
This new business is called agent banking and it has made transacting financial services easier because most people do not need to go to the banking hall or any bank to make payment, withdraw or deposit or transfer money to anyone anymore.
If you look around you these days, you will see people having small kiosks working as mobile money agents, who perform some of the things done in the banking halls.
Who is a Mobile Money Agent?
A mobile money agent is an person approved by a licensed financial institution to offer mobile money services like cash-in and out payment, airtime, service, and bill payments to customers.
Becoming a mobile agent is a great business consideration, and following these easy steps can make one start the business easily without stress.
Registration
To become a mobile money agent, the first step is opening a bank account with the bank of your choice or have an existing bank account (this is better because your transaction history helps in determining your saving level and qualifies you). That is, if you want to be a mobile agent for UBA, you must have an account with them. Some recommendations offered by existing mobile agents are: UBA, Access Bank, First Bank, and GTBank.
Take into consideration that some of these banks give the intending agent optional targets which may be daily or weekly, ranging from N50,000 daily to about N1,000,000 weekly, while some simply do not. One of such banks that give target to their agents is GTBank.
If you have either a savings or current account or both, you can have them linked to the Point of Sale (POS) machine, which is the major tool for the mobile money agent business.
To get a POS machine, you have to go your bank, meet the customer care service, and request for the agency banking, which attracts a fee between N5,000 and N10,000. This money must be paid to get a pin.
This form is where you will provide all the necessary information to qualify you to own a POS as an agent.
The data you must provide include your name, date of birth, state of origin, mobile number, your Bank Verification Number (BVN), Guarantors, Tax Identification Number (TIN) – if you don’t have this, you are given a form to get one. You will also be required to present a valid ID card (voters’ card, national ID card, national identification number [NIN]), and the PIN gotten from paying the fee, among others so they process your application. This generally takes between five working days to three weeks.
Criteria Consideration
If you meet certain criteria, you are given a POS linked to your account.
One of the criteria considered is having a physical store or shop where people can meet to perform financial transactions. People who have shops qualify to be approved to be made a certified mobile money agent than those who don’t. Note that a having kiosk also qualifies you.
The location where the shop is located is also a key factor that will help. The presence of the shop in an area where businesses are situated is an added advantage on the side of the prospective agent.
Literacy is also considered, if the agent can read, write, and do basic calculations which is necessary in balancing accounts, it is a credible criteria that qualifies him or her.
Another thing you must have is a phone, preferably an Internet enabled phone so that you can get alerts. This will make balancing both credit and debit transactions made daily or weekly very easy.
Charges
On the part of the bank, for every transaction of less than N10,000, the bank gets 0.5 percent while transactions from N10,000 upwards to a limit set by the bank (varies from bank from bank), they charge 0.75 percent. These charges are inclusive Value Added Tax (VAT) because of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy.
As a mobile money agent, charges on transactions vary, depending on how much the transactor wants to send or receive. Between N1,000 – N3,000, a charge of N100 is applied but N4,000 upward attract a N200 charge. Whether you are sending or receiving. Some agents also fix their charges but standard procedure should not attract more than N200.
Other Services
Also, note that as a mobile money agent, you are not only restricted to pure banking transactions. You can also do other side payments like airtime recharge for mobile networks, bills payment or settlement such as PHCN bills, waste bills, DSTV, GoTV, Startimes, Local Government levies and permits, and even open accounts for banks.
By Dipo Olowookere
The local stock market firmed up by 1.13 per cent on Friday as appetite for Nigerian stocks remained strong.
Investors reacted well to the 2026 budget presentation of President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly yesterday, especially because of the more realistic crude oil benchmark of $64 per barrel compared with the ambitious $75 per barrel for 2025. This year, prices have been between $60 and $65 per barrel.
Business Post observed profit-taking in the commodity and energy sectors as they respectively shed 0.14 per cent and 0.03 per cent.
But, bargain-hunting in the others sustained the positive run, with the consumer goods index up by 3.82 per cent.
Further, the industrial goods space appreciated by 1.46 per cent, the banking counter improved by 0.08 per cent, and the insurance industry gained 0.04 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 1,694.33 points to 152,057.38 points from 150,363.05 points and the market capitalisation chalked up N1.080 trillion to finish at N96.937 trillion compared with Thursday’s closing value of N95.857 trillion.
A total of 34 shares ended on the advancers’ chart, while 24 were on the laggards’ log, representing a positive market breadth index and bullish investor sentiment.
Austin Laz gained 10.00 per cent to close at N2.42, Union Dicon also jumped 10.00 per cent to N6.60, Tantalizers increased by 9.80 per cent to N2.69, Aluminium Extrusion improved by 9.78 per cent to N12.35, and Champion Breweries grew by 9.71 per cent to N16.95.
Conversely, Sovereign Trust Insurance dipped by 7.42 per cent to N3.87, Royal Exchange lost 6.84 per cent to trade at N1.77, Omatek slipped by 6.84 per cent to N1.09, Eunisell depreciated by 5.88 per cent to N80.00, and Eterna dropped 5.63 per cent to close at N28.50.
Yesterday, traders transacted 1.5 billion units worth N21.8 billion in 25,667 deals compared with the 839.8 million units sold for N32.8 billion in 23,211 deals in the preceding session, showing a surge in the trading volume by 76.61 per cent, an uptick in the number of deals by 10.58 per cent, and a shrink in the trading value by 33.54 per cent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three stocks stretched the bearish run of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.21 per cent on Friday, December 19, with the market capitalisation giving up N26.01 billion to close at N2.121 billion compared with the N2.147 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropping 43.47 points to 3,546.41 points from 3,589.88 points.
The trio of FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, and NASD Plc overpowered the gains printed by four other securities.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N6.00 to sell at N54.00 per unit versus N60.00 per unit, NASD Plc shrank by N3.50 to N58.50 per share from N55.00 per share, and CSCS Plc depleted by N2.91 to N33.87 per unit from N36.78 per unit.
On the flip side, Air Liquide Plc gained N1.01 to close at N13.00 per share versus N11.99 per share, Golden Capital Plc appreciated by 70 Kobo to N7.68 per unit from N6.98 per unit, Geo-Fluids Plc added 39 Kobo to sell at N5.50 per share versus N5.11 per share, and IPWA Plc rose by 8 Kobo to 85 Kobo per unit from 77 Kobo per unit.
During the trading day, market participants traded 1.9 million securities versus the previous day’s 30.5 million securities showing a decline of 49.3 per cent. The value of trades went down by 64.3 per cent to N80.3 million from N225.1 million, but the number of deals jumped by 32.1 per cent to 37 deals from 28 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc finished the session as the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units valued at N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units transacted for N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units traded for N4.9 billion.
The most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was still InfraCredit Plc with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.7 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units traded for N524.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira at the two major foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday as it suffered a heavy loss against the United States Dollar at the close of transactions.
In the black market segment, the Naira weakened against its American counterpart yesterday by N10 to quote at N1,485/$1, in contrast to the N1,475/$1 it was traded a day earlier, and at the GTBank forex counter, it depreciated by N2 to settle at N1,467/$1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,465/$1.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) window, which is also the official market, the nation’s legal tender crashed against the greenback by N6.65 or 0.46 per cent to close at N1,464.49/$1 compared with the preceding session’s rate of N1,457.84/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency tumbled against the Euro in the spot market by N2.25 to sell for N1,714.63/€1 compared with the previous day’s N1,712.38/€1, but appreciated against the Pound Sterling by 73 Kobo to finish at N1,957.30/£1 compared with the N1,958.03/£1 it was traded in the preceding session.
The market continues to face seasonal pressure even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is still conducting FX intervention sales, which have significantly reduced but not remove pressure from the Naira. Also, there seems to be reduced supply from exporters, foreign portfolio investors and non-bank corporate inflows.
President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented the government’s N58.47 trillion budget plan aimed at consolidating economic reforms and boosting growth.
The budget is based on a projected crude oil price of $64.85 a barrel and includes a target oil output of 1.84 million barrels a day. It also projects an exchange rate of N1,400 to the Dollar.
President Tinubu said inflation had plunged to an annual rate of 14.45 per cent in November from 24.23 per cent in March, while foreign reserves had surged to a seven-year high of $47 billion.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was dominated by the bulls but it continues to face increased pressure after million in liquidations in previous session over accelerating declines, with Dogecoin (DOGE) recovering 4.2 per cent to trade at $0.1309.
Further, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 3.9 per cent to $1.90, Cardano (ADA) rose by 3.5 per cent to $0.3728, Solana (SOL) jumped by 3.4 per cent to $126.23, Ethereum (ETH) climbed by 2.9 per cent to $2,982.42, Binance Coin (BNB) gained 2.0 per cent to sell for $853.06, Bitcoin (BTC) improved by 1.7 per cent to $88,281.21, and Litecoin (LTC) soared by 1.2 per cent to $76.50, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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