Leading telecommunications service provider, Airtel Africa Plc, on Thursday announced through the Nigerian Exchange Limited portal that its mobile money subsidiary- SmartCash Payment Service Bank Limited has commenced operations in Nigeria.

The mobile money services, it said in a statement, will initially be available at selected retail touchpoints, and operations, before being expanded gradually across the country over the next few months.

Reacting, the statement quoted Segun Ogunsanya, Airtel’s chief executive officer as expressing excitement at the commencement of mobile money operations to offer financial services in Nigeria through SmartCash PSB, describing it as “the beginning of our journey to revolutionise the financial services landscape in the country.”

SmartCash PSB, he continued, is to “help further digitise the economy, and most importantly to help bank the unbanked by reaching the millions of Nigerians who do not currently have access to financial services by delivering current and savings accounts, payment and remittance services, debit and prepayment cards and more sophisticated services.”