By Osman Kargbo
Afrimoney, the financial service provider of the pacesetting GSM company Africell, has gone a notch higher in its collaborative efforts at teaming up with major financial intermediaries such as Commerce and Mortgage Bank (CMB) to boost financial inclusion in Sierra Leone.Representatives of both companies sealed the partnership at a ceremony held on Wednesday 28 September 2022 at the boardroom of Africell’s office at Wilberforce in Freetown.
Afrimoney is a veritable financial provider to people at every stratum of society, while Commerce and Mortgage Bank (CMB) has proven, since its inception in 2016, to be a reliable bankable entity, as it continues to build an enduring and sustainable customer-focused financial institution using digital banking.
Both Afrimoney and CMB have therefore nicely integrated their financial inclusion service to give the people of Sierra Leone the reigning modern means of financial transaction through digital means.
Dubbed ‘PUT n PULL’, the service would allow subscribers/customers to both Afrimoney and CMB to deposit or send in money even at minimal rates into their accounts and also withdraw, take or receive money from their accounts in real time with ease, comfort, safety and rapidity.
“CMB is grateful to Africell and Afrimoney for your timely response to our call for partnership,” CMBank’s Executive Director Velma Labor said while sealing the partnership for the service also mirrored as ‘Bank2Wallet, Wallet2Bank’.
About CMB, Mrs Labor said: “In 2016, Commerce & Mortgage Bank (CMB) was granted a commercial banking license which positioned the bank to better compete in the financial ecosystem. The name was changed from HFC Mortgage and Savings (Mr Mortgage) to its current name. The Bank then took a path of transitioning from a Mortgage and deposit-taking institution to a commercial Bank. Whilst on that journey, we were hit by the COVID-19 Pandemic and we were awakened to the realization that interoperability is very important for financial transactions. As a result, CMB embarked on a digital transformation journey with the objective of becoming the best digital bank in Sierra Leone. It is in line with this very objective which is why we are here today partnering with Africell and specifically Afrimoney.”
Mrs Labor said the need for “interoperability in ensuring a cashless economy” could not be over-emphasised. “It is against this backdrop we collaborated with Afrimoney to provide our customers with the popular demand for a Bank2Wallet and Wallet2Bank seamless money transfer and payment system using the Afrimoney wallet platform,” the CMB executive director said, adding that their customers can access the service from their Mobile App, Internet Banking platform, and also Africell’s USSD platform.
“It is a service that is available to both our retail and corporate customers,” she explained, saying CMB “wishes to warm its way into the hearts” of their customers and the unbanked with a campaign message that speaks for itself. The message, she notes, states: “At CMB we are all about using innovative product advancements and digital technology to create a better banking experience.”
She thanked the boards, managements, shareholders and customers of both companies for their “immense contributions towards financial inclusion in the country”.
For his part, Afrimoney’s Director Martison Obeng-Agyei said: “We are happy for this partnership and we would stop at nothing to make it possible.”
He expatiated on the role Afrimoney has been playing in Sierra Leone to provide financial services to ensure financial inclusion for all.
He said the three things Afrimoney holds onto are innovation, the unbanked, and the digital space. “These form the ethos of the financial service of Afrimoney,” Mr Obeng-Agyei stated, saying what financial transactions and communication was in the last two decades is not what it is today. “We need to effect the changes to meet the times,” he added.
He said the existence of a mobile money company/platform like Afrimoney has helped them as a company to innovate and provide beneficial services to people, adding that Afrimoney “upholds convenience and access”.
He said the partnership between his company and CMB would let customers save time and space in financial transactions using their phones. It would also let customers deposit and withdraw even the tiniest amount of money into their accounts without any embarrassment which face-t0-face transactions with bank tellers or workers may present.
He said the partnership would let CMB have access to more than 6000 subscribers of Afrimoney.
He thanked the staff, management and boards of CMB, Africell and their customers for their collaborative efforts at ensuring financial inclusion in Sierra Leone.
“Let’s continue to work together,” Mr Obeng-Agyei concluded.
