Yemisi Izuora
Global payments leader, Visa in partner with some Nigerian banks have launched an innovative mobile payment system called mVisa.
The system will offer Nigerian consumers easy and secure payments opportunity and merchants will also benefit from the innovative mobile QR technology that reduces cost and friction for accepting electronic payments. The solution would be rolled out across Africa.
Consumers from Visa’s Nigerian Partner Banks can pay with any mobile phone where mVisa is accepted as mvisa transactions are processed via Visa;s global network, VisaNet, applying the same scale, security and reliability as any other visa transaction.
With the launch today in Lagos, Diamond Bank, Fidelity Bank and First Bank will offer their customers the convenience of mVisa through their mobile banking apps. Access Bank, Ecobank, United Bank for Africa and Zenith Bank will also go live with mVisa in the coming weeks.
Nigeria is the first market to provide customers with the convenience of making cross-border payments using mVisa.
Speaking at the launch event, Andrew Torre, President for Visa Sub-Saharan Africa said, “Small and medium merchants in particular, no longer have to invest in expensive point of sale infrastructure as mVisa gives them the freedom to accept payments in a convenient, secure and affordable manner that their customer trust”.
“We are very excited to see more and more merchants come on board every day as they begin to understand the benefits that mVisa brings, including real-time notifications of payments and access to sales and transactions history. We have campaigns lined up for the coming months to support our merchants and encourage new customers to experience mVisa at various locations across Nigeria, Torre said.
Today, Visa and its financial institution partners are, for the first time, providing the benefits of digital commerce to potentially everyone, everywhere across Nigeria and the African continent, bringing millions of more people into the formal financial system.”
Diamond Bank’s Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Uzoma Dozie, stated that the launch of mVisa is timely and aligns with the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the digital growth strategy of the bank.
‘’With mVisa, Diamond Bank has raised the bar for cashless banking in Nigeria by maintaining its leadership role in driving a digital financial revolution in the country. Our customers will be able to make everyday payments simply by using their mobile phones. I think mVisa is the biggest thing that has happened in the industry.”
Fidelity Bank CIO, Gbolahan Joshua, said: “mVisa is an innovative service that merges the everyday mobile phone to a payment solutions plan that is easy for our customers to use.
Our account holders will appreciate the convenience mVisa offers.”
FirstBank’s Group Head, E-Business, Chuma Ezirim said that the Bank would continue to embrace innovation to deliver superior services in the best way possible to its customers. ”Partnering with Visa to deliver mVisa is part of the FirstBank’s strategy to deliver reliable, secure and convenient payment options to its esteemed customers. It further promotes our digital approach by delivering an omni-channel experience to all our customers while enhancing our existing offerings”, he reiterated.
mVisa is already accepted at hundreds of location across the country, with many more merchants joining the ecosystem over the new few months. These merchants include DSTV, Konga.com, Genesis and IMAX Cinema, Hard Rock Café, Quick Teller and Spar.
The mVisa implementation in Nigeria benefited from the Visa Developer Platform, which allowed all partner banks the ability to integrate the mVisa APIs directly into their mobile banking apps. While rolling out a new solution with a bank typically can take a very long time from development to implementation and testing, utilizing the Visa Developer Platform interface reduced the time taken significantly. This helped to speed up the number of banks who have been able to roll out the mVisa solution in Nigeria.
mVisa is now live in Nigeria, Kenya, India, Rwanda and Egypt with plans to launch across Africa.