9Payment Service Bank (9PSB) and SeerBit, a pan-African enterprise payment platform, have entered into a strategic partnership to facilitate seamless access to financial services for individuals and businesses in Nigeria.
9PSB and SeerBit will co-create a seamless payment and omnichannel banking ecosystem that aggregates and simplifies transactions for banking agents, merchants, end consumers, and businesses. This partnership creates a unique opportunity to deploy a home-grown solution that sets out a roadmap for the digitisation of payments and enables the ecosystem to close the financial exclusion gap.
Speaking on the partnership, Branka Mracajac, CEO of 9PSB remarked that 9PSB is committed to building a strong financial ecosystem driven by collaboration. She said, “The core of our business is to provide easy, convenient, and seamless financial transactions to the unbanked, under-banked, and under-served. To achieve this, collaboration is central to our strategy – with technology leaders and partners on this long journey with the ultimate goal to move Nigeria from cash to a cashless society.
Thus, expanding on our promise to deliver relevant financial products. Through this partnership, we will be providing our agents, partners, and customers with a single point of entry to enjoy various products and services.”
On his part, Omoniyi Kolade, Founder and CEO of SeerBit, stated that in alignment with SeerBit’s vision of providing innovative technology solutions tailored to bridging payment gaps, the collaboration with 9PSB will ensure that African businesses reap the full benefits of the digital payments boom in the region.
“The collaboration also consolidates SeerBit’s position as a frontline player in the digital payment ecosystem in Africa. Our goal has always been to grow a new wave of prosperity in Africa by creating more avenues for businesses in Africa to accept payments and we are happy to do this in partnership with 9PSB. We will empower millions of businesses to accept digital payments, charting the course for the new direction for digitization in Africa.” he said.
This synergy aligns with efforts to ensure interconnectivity and interoperability amongst stakeholders in the financial sector, which is vital to accelerating the financial inclusion drive. By providing secure and reliable electronic payment solutions, the partnership will contribute to the transformation of the informal sector to formal, support the drive for economic growth by empowering SMEs and deepen inclusion through innovative financial products and services for individuals, businesses and the fintech ecosystem in Nigeria.
In recent times, Africa has witnessed an exponential growth in digital financial services, driven by increasing mobile penetration. More than half of Africans remain without formal bank accounts but most own mobile phones through which they access basic financial services. In its latest annual State of the Industry report, GSMA, reveals that the value of mobile money transactions passed the $1 trillion mark in 2021 with Africa accounting for nearly 70% of the total amount of transactions recorded.
With this partnership, both companies are set to positively contribute to this trend by expanding accessibility and last-mile delivery of digital payment solutions on the continent while further driving its impressive growth.
On a mission to Bank9ja, 9PSB is committed to product innovations that support ease of access to financial services. The digital bank has created a custom-tailored solution, Bank9ja, a bank agnostic mobile App and web platform, designed to service both the totally excluded as well as the included but underserved in society, by allowing easy access and connection by all banks and other FinTech’s willing and ready to partner with 9PSB.
As part of this Mission, 9PSB recently completed a total upgrade of its USSD channel – *990# and relaunched and rebranded its mobile App – now called Bank9ja – with the sole aim of empowering users with more options to bank with ease, quicker onboarding, low transfer charges and no extra charges on bills payment.