BY ONOME AMUGE
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has granted an Approval In Principle (AIP) to Abeg Technologies, a subsidiary of Piggytech Global Limited, to support seamless payments and online commerce and develop its operations as a Mobile Money Operator (MMO) in Nigeria.
The AIP dated April 25, 2022 is the first step towards the company’s final approval, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions as stipulated by the CBN. It also establishes Abeg Technologies as Nigeria’s first social commerce platform to secure the CBN’s AIP for an MMO licence.
AIP is referred to as a partial approval granted by a financial institution to an entity (individual or business) under the condition of complying with regulatory conditions. A full approval is thereafter granted when the conditions are complied with and met satisfactorily.
In addition, Abeg also announced a total rebranding to “Pocket by Piggyvest” (PocketApp), in a move to underline its evolution from a money transfer app to a social commerce platform.
The platform’s new identity, it explained, references its added functionalities for users to buy and sell items via virtual pocket shops and reinforces its push into a social commerce market estimated to reach $23.8 billion by 2028 in Nigeria alone.
Commenting on the company’s AIP, Odunayo Eweniyi, co-founder and COO of Piggytech Global Limited, said the parent company is incredibly pleased that PocketApp has been granted an approval in principle as a Mobile Money Operator in Nigeria.
“We will now work closely with the Central Bank to meet all its conditions to receive the full operating licence, enabling us to continue growing and expanding the scope of our social payments, social commerce and other digital financial products to reach millions of Nigerian micro-entrepreneurs,” Eweniyi said.
Eweniyi further assured that PocketApp affirms its commitment to the financial inclusion agenda of the apex bank and will continue to make it easier for the teeming young population across the country to seamlessly carry out their transactions, while saving them costs and giving them more access to get paid.
The Piggytech co-founder also explained that the MMO licence will enable the company to carry out activities around wallet creation and management, e-money issuing, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), agent recruitment and management, pool account management, non-bank acquiring as stipulated in the regulatory requirements for non-bank merchant acquiring in Nigeria, card acquiring, and any other activities that may be permitted by the CBN.
Speaking on the company’s evolution, Patricia Adoga, COO of PocketApp, said the company had in the last 18 months focused on building the core infrastructure that will enable secure social commerce and payments at scale.
“We believe that social commerce will thrive better in a more trusted environment. So we added escrow to our payment infrastructure, protecting buyers and sellers and many other features, ensuring a smooth shopping experience on the app,” Adoga explained.
PocketApp was launched as AbegApp in 2021. The company initially started as a payment platform for sending and receiving money, but has ventured into a full social commerce app, connecting buyers and sellers across Nigeria, with a vision to expand into other parts of Africa soon.
