MTN, a leading telecommunications company, has revealed that it recorded a 2.7% decline to 14.5 million in its Nigerian Fintech subscribers in 2023.
The telco disclosed this in its full financial year report for the period ended December 31, 2023. According to MTN, it attributed the decline to the NIN Know Your Customer (KYC) requirement introduced in the fourth quarter (Q4) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Recall that last year, the CBN mandated Nigerian financial institutions to implement stricter Know Your Customer (KYC) measures, requiring all customers to provide their Bank Verification Number or a national identification number (NIN) for account or wallet opening, which be effective April 2024.
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MTN in its report wrote,
“While the development of the business has been slower than anticipated, we are pleased with the progress in building our MoMo PSB wallet base. The number of registered MoMo wallet active users rose by over 3.3 million in the year to 5.3 million, indicating the underlying momentum in the Fintech space.
“We expanded our MoMo agent network by adding over 103,000 active agents, bringing the total number to approximately 327,000. Our agent network continued to play a pivotal role in our MoMo ecosystem, bringing the service closer to our customers. Our merchant business, which we started in March 2023 has reached over 324,000 by December 2023”.
MTN noted that its fintech revenue increased by 2.4 percent, with growth in Xtratime (its airtime lending product, up 2 percent) and core fintech services (wallet and super-agent business, up 22.7 percent).
The company’s result revealed that its total service revenue grew year-on-year by 22.4 percent to N2.4 trillion, mobile subscribers increased by 5.3 percent to 79.7 million, and active data users rose by 12.7 percent to 44.6 million.
“We recorded pleasing growth of 39.8 percent (up 48.7 percent in Q4) in data revenue supported by a revamp of our data bundle offerings – particularly in Q4 – as well as the significant investment in our network coverage and capacity,” it stated.
Commenting on the company’s outlook on fintech, Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria Karl Toriola said,
“We will continue to drive consumer education and awareness, leveraging our distribution network, which has enabled us to grow the active wallets and scale the agent and merchant ecosystem. The company is expanding its business service from basic to advanced, including cross-border remittances, to boost adoption and monetization.”
It is worth noting that Four months ago, MTN’s 5G reached 1.8 million users, and MoMo PSB’s users rose by 53.1% YoY, reaching 3.6 million users. MTN’s MoMo PSB active wallets witnessed a rise of 53.1% YoY and 15% QoQ, reaching 3.6 million users, which accounts for 40.6% of its fintech user base.
The number of registered MoMo users has also increased to 27.9 million. Additionally, the transaction volume of MTN has experienced 47.6% YoY growth, indicating a positive trend in the ecosystem. The rise in mobile money (MoMo) users and the strong performance of MoMo PSB wallets reinforce MTN Nigeria’s continued fintech leadership.