[ACCI-CAVIE] The subsidiary of Cameroonian banking group Afriland First Group has signed two partnership agreements with South African telecom giant MTN. Through these agreements, Afriland First Bank becomes the first bank in the country to offer Mobile Money and Push & Pull services.
It is a major innovation that the subsidiary of the pan-African group Afriland First Group has just brought to the South Sudanese banking market. The bank headed by Donald DONGMO has just signed several partnership agreements with MTN South Sudan. With the first one, which concerns Mobile Money, First Bank South Sudan has the right to collect in an account in its books (Trust Account) the physical currency equivalent of the electronic currency (Mobile Money transactions conducted by MTN South Sudan). Since the telecommunications company does not have a banking license, the launch of its mobile money activities was conditional on a partnership with a banking institution, the only one authorized to issue electronic money. First Bank’s recognized experience in mobile banking through its other subsidiaries, particularly in Cameroon, was a factor in the South African group’s choice. This agreement is a recognition for Afriland First Group, which has made innovation a pillar of its deployment across the continent.
The second agreement concerns the launch of Push & Pull. Here again, Afriland First Bank remains ahead of the other banks in the country. It will be the first bank in the local banking market to offer this service, which is very popular with users. Thanks to this innovation, it will now be possible for South Sudanese to link their bank accounts to their mobile money accounts. As Donald DONGMO, Managing Director of Afriland First Bank Southern Sudan explains: “We have opted to promote innovation in order to allow the customer to gradually experience autonomy. First, our customers will send and receive money through the agreement with our partner MTN. In a second phase, they can link their bank accounts and their electronic wallets to conduct their operations 24 hours a day. In other countries, these two innovations have been implemented progressively over a long period, sometimes two to three years. In South Sudan, we offered them to our customers in one go because of our expertise in other markets where we have experience in this area.”
Having entered the market in 2012, Afriland First Bank South Sudan is focusing its deployment on the digital transformation of banking services through continuous innovation. To this end, the bank is multiplying its partnerships with the main telecommunication players in the country. It recently signed two agreements with South Sudanese IT giant Trinity Technology – mGurush, to expand the mobile money operations it is about to conduct as part of its partnership with the country’s second largest telecom company ZAIN. It has also been reported that the bank has signed an agreement with the South Sudanese government to digitize and collect non-oil revenues. Afriland First Bank South Sudan also aims to launch the electronic banking service in the year 2023. For 2024, the focus will be on the launch of SARA, the mobile application developed by Afriland First Group to enable banked and unbanked users to take advantage of e-purse and mobile banking services.
Afriland First Group’s subsidiary is betting on innovation to stand out in a small but highly attractive South Sudanese banking market with 31 banks in operation. Two (2) banks were liquidated in 2022 for lack of capitalization, namely Southern Rock Bank and Theresa Rural Development Bank, a departure mathematically compensated by two new banks that entered the market during the same period, namely National Bank of Egypt and Horizon Bank.
As of December 31, 2022, the 31 banks had total assets of 733.3 billion South Sudanese Pounds, or $1.096 billion. At the same time, the banks had collected resources of 557 billion South Sudanese Pounds, or $833 million, and distributed 73.2 billion South Sudanese Pounds, or $109.5 million in credit.
By Albert Savana and LB