Plans are underway for Standard Chartered Plc to shut down 50 percent of its branches in Nigeria.
Gatekeepers News quotes a report by Bloomberg that Standard Chartered Plc has started closing some offices in December and may drop it from 25 to 13 branches.
The move is believed to enhance the use of digital banking as an industry document cited by Bloomberg News cited confirmed that the bank resolved to shut down some branches due to the pressure from mobile money providers.
Standard Chartered Bank is aiming at strengthening its mobile banking services and recruiting agents to reach new customers and handle cash deposits and withdrawals across the country.
The report added that some insiders said the development is part of the company’s strategy to join other First Bank and Zenith Bank in agent banking.
Banks in Nigeria are currently embracing digital banking to compete with fintech products across Africa and tap into the outbreak of mobile money services.
Gatekeepers News reports that MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa Plc have received approval last year to operate a payment service bank (PSB) in Nigeria. Through PSB operators, the two telcos will join the financial services through digital means to bank low-income earners and people that do not have access to banking institutions for transactions.
Airtel also received approval to operate as a super-agent via its subsidiary, Smartcash Payment Service Bank Limited.
Super agents are companies approved by CBN to recruit agents for agency banking, such as financial services within communities on behalf of banks to deepen financial inclusion. The strategy will help close the margin of the unbanked population at 36 percent of the adult population, representing 38 million citizens, in Nigeria.
