A week after both Airtel and MTN were granted approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to operate a payment service bank (PSB) via Smartcash Payment Service Bank Limited, Airtel Africa Plc has announced that it has been granted approval-in-principle by the CBN to operate as a super-agent in Nigeria.

The telecom company announced this on Monday, explaining in a statement on the Nigeria Exchange Limited (NGX), that Airtel Mobile Commerce Nigeria, its subsidiary will operate the agent banking license.

Super agents are companies approved by CBN to recruit agents for agency banking, such as financial services within communities on behalf of banks to deepen financial inclusion.

Airtel explained in a statement that super agent license, which is different from the PSB, gives it the opportunity to carry out financial services on behalf Nigerian banks.

“The super agent licence is distinct from the Payment Service Bank (PSB) licence for which it received approval in principle on 4 November 2021.

“The PSB licence is required for Airtel to be able to provide financial services in Nigeria such as accepting cash deposits and carrying out payments and remittances, issuing debit and prepaid cards, operating electronic wallets, and rendering other financial services.

“Under the super agent licence, we would be able to create an agent network that can service the customers of licensed Nigerian banks, Payment service banks and licenced mobile money operators in Nigeria.

“Final approval of the super agent licence is subject to the Group satisfying certain standard conditions,” it said.

The federal government of Nigeria, through the CBN, has been working on policies that will facilitate financial inclusion in the country. Among them is the issuance of financial service licenses to qualified telecom operators.

Despite Nigeria’s fintech boom, the African largest economy still has a wide gap of about 40 million people who lack access to financial services. With this gap, telcos, with their huge customer-base that covers even the rural dwellers, are being selected to offer financial services to the underserved.

The Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Africa, Segun Ogunsanya said Airtel is working to meet all the requirements for the license.

“I am very pleased that Smartcash has been granted an approval in principle to operate a service bank business in Nigeria. We will now work closely with the Central Bank to meet all its conditions to receive the operating licence and commence operations.

“The final operating licence will enable us to expand our digital financial products and reach the millions of Nigerians that do not have access to traditional financial services.

“I am looking forward to working closely with the Government, the Central Bank and traditional financial institutions to expand financial inclusion and meet the evolving needs of our customers and the economy.“

Depending much on the success of Airtel and MTN, It is expected that more companies in the telecom industry will be approved to offer financial services soon.

Amazon has announced it will stop accepting Visa credit cards for payments in the UK from January, citing the cost of processing payments, which has made it too expensive to support them.

“As a result of Visa’s continued high cost of payments, we regret that Amazon.co.uk will no longer accept UK-issued Visa credit cards as of January 19, 2022,” Amazon said in an email sent to customers.

However, the e-commerce giant said it will continue to accept payments on Visa debit cards, as well as other credit cards from other firms, such as Mastercard and American Express.

The new rules highlight the impact of disruption decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain-powered payment systems have brought to the payment industry.

It thus beckons on payment companies such as Visa and Mastercard to adjust their framework to accommodate the new financial order of things.

Amazon said that technology advancements should be making payment processing fees reduce, but complained that they were actually increasing.

“The cost of accepting card payments continues to be an obstacle for businesses striving to provide the best prices for customers,” the company said in a statement.

“These costs should be going down over time with technological advancements, but instead they continue to stay high or even rise.

“With the rapidly changing payments landscape around the world, we will continue innovating on behalf of customers to add and promote faster, cheaper, and more inclusive payment options to our stores across the globe.”

A Visa spokesperson said the company was disappointed and hoped to resolve the situation before the deadline went into effect.

“UK shoppers can use their Visa debit and credit cards at Amazon UK today and throughout the holiday season,” the company said.

“We are very disappointed that Amazon is threatening to restrict consumer choice in the future. When consumer choice is limited, nobody wins.

“We have a long-standing relationship with Amazon, and we continue to work toward a resolution, so our cardholders can use their preferred Visa credit cards at Amazon UK without Amazon-imposed restrictions come January 2022.”

Fintech and cryptocurrencies have provided alternative payment systems that are tremendously being adopted. One of the key factors driving the wide adoption is cheap transaction processing fees, which was made possible through the elimination of intermediaries.

The backdrop poses a huge challenge to traditional payment firms, as the adoption of blockchain and fintech means losing their clients. Though some, like Mastercard, who has been partnering with other payment companies, are redesigning to tag along the shift, others are still stuck in their costly traditional system, and it’s beginning to tank their customer-base.

TikTok has been adding new features in a bid to widen the scope its usage, thereby growing its user-base. The short video app has welcomed many new ideas outside its original business, incorporating them through partnership with different companies.

To this end, Contra, a professional network for freelance workers, has jumped on the bandwagon, partnering with TikTok to allow users to showcase their resumes and portfolios via TikTok Jump, the social media service’s third-party integration tool.

The partnership marks TikTok’s indirect delve into professional networking, and signals that there will be more features in the future to accommodate new ideas.

The new partnership will allow creators to link their Contra profile to their TikTok videos to showcase their professional portfolios, TechCrunch reports, explaining that other functions of the integration and what the companies hope to achieve with it.

With this new integration, creators can now add a “View My Portfolio” link to their TikTok content. Viewers will then be able to tap the link and see the creator’s Contra profile, check out their services and send a request to collaborate.

Contra says the integration makes it easier to share professional work and get new client leads. It plans to launch another Jump integration that will allow companies that are hiring to post TikTok content with a link to apply to the job directly with the viewer’s Contra profile. The company says the partnership allows independent workers to replace traditional resumes with more engaging methods to showcase their work.

“TikTok has become one of the leading places for people to get career advice and find out about amazing roles, so it only makes sense that creators should also be able to showcase their amazing professional work on the platform,” said Contra founder and CEO Ben Huffman in a statement.

Earlier this year, Contra raised a $14.5 million Series A led by Unusual Ventures, with participation from Cowboy Ventures and Li Jin’s recently announced Atelier Ventures. Two weeks ago, the company brought in $30 million in Series B funding, led by NEA, with participation from Unusual Ventures and Cowboy Ventures.

The platform wants professionals to create profiles that show project-based identities, versus a role-based identity that one would show on LinkedIn. Contra’s goal is to help independent workers create high-signal referral networks so they can land new opportunities. Unlike LinkedIn, where you can add anyone you meet and they become a “connection,” Contra requires you to have work experience with your network.

The company’s partnership with TikTok allows it to reach more millennial and Gen Z users and possibly help them land new opportunities. Since launching TikTok Jump in June, the social media giant has partnered with many companies, such as Quizlet, Wikipedia, BuzzFeed and Jumprope, to allow them to create their own integrations within its app.

TikTok’s rapid-growing user-base is being driven by its integrated diversification that includes e-commerce. The social media company has recorded a huge number of users that saw it beating other social media platforms, including YouTube in user records.

In September, TikTok hit one billion monthly global users, a milestone for the company that was launched in 2016. In the same month, it surpassed YouTube for average watch time in the US and UK. The Contra professional network integration is expected to further boost the number of TikTok’s users.