Orange holding off Nigeria investment for mobile money regulatory tweak

A central bank regulation barring non-financial institutions from providing financial services in Nigeria is all that stands in the way of Orange SA to start mobile banking operations in Africa’s most populous nation,  according to two persons familiar with the matter.

The French telecommunications group did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

There is a separate report by Bloomberg that Orange, which started offering banking services in its home market last year, is partnering Ivory Coast’s Groupe NSIA to start banking operations in Abidjan and Senegal, in a move expected to expand over time into neighbouring West African countries.

Orange targets 400 million euros ($466 million) in revenues in 2018 from mobile financial services across all its markets, the company said last November.

“Orange is ready to bring in billions of dollars to Nigeria, but the framework has to be right for them to come in,” one of the sources, who did not want to be named, told Business Day.

“It’s not just Orange who is looking to come in, some other companies, foreign and local are taking positions to come as soon as the regulatory environment permits,” another source said, declining to name the companies.

The current regulatory environment, as guided by the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA), makes no provision for non-financial institutions to provide financial services.