MTN Partners Fintechs as Talks With Banks Lingers

MTN has activated a number of new channel partnerships with fintech companies as the company continues meeting with the commercial banks on a new pricing structure agreement.

MTN’s initial meeting for the reduction of the charges held on Tuesday with the banks ended in a deadlock and is expected to continue until a new long-term agreement can be reached on a sustainable pricing structure going forward.

The telco said this in a statement on Thursday titled ‘Update on banking channel partners’ dispute and expansion of channel network’.

MTN customers were reconnected to banking channels after the banks blocked them on April 2.

This was agreed on the basis that MTN would revert to its previous cost of sales structures with banking partners, until a new long-term agreement could be reached on a sustainable pricing structure going forward.

The telecom company noted that it had been participating in a series of meetings with the banks since Tuesday, after the intervention of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, the Nigerian Communication Commission and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

According to the telco, the reduction in the banks’ commission on USSD airtime is ‘international standard and best practice as scale is built along distribution channels’.

“We will provide a further market update once these discussions have been concluded.

We are confident that partners in the banking sector will work with us to ensure this process concludes as quickly as possible to the benefit of the entire industry,” MTN said.

It said it had partnered with new fintechs to expand the range of channels available to customers, adding that the partnerships would remain in place.

“The new channel partners include Sparkle, Konga Pay, Barter By Flutter Wave, Jumia Pay, OPay, Kuda, Carbon, BillsnPay, MTN On Demand, MTN Xtratime airtime loans (*606#), myMTN Web http://mymtn.com.ng and Momo agent *223#,” the statement said.

The telco expressed optimism for a mutually acceptable solution that empowered all ecosystem participants.