The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has mandated Interswitch Financial Inclusion Services (IFIS), a subsidiary of Interswitch Group to grow its agent network to 150,000 by 2020, as it fulfilled all Approval-in-Principle requirements. Trading as Quickteller Paypoint, IFIS aims to increase the availability of digital financial services in financially-excluded locations in Nigeria from 44 percent to over 70 percent in five years. Quickteller Paypoint has now crossed a symbolic milestone by breaking the 10,000 activated agent mark. With this feat, Quickteller Paypoint now has the second largest agent network in Nigeria.

Confirming the license update, Divisional CEO, IFIS, Mike Ogbalu said: “With excitement, we are proud to announce this feat. We are conscious of the fact that work is only just starting. We would not be resting on our oars and remain fully dedicated to our cause and business mandate.

By way of investment in people and technology, we continue to reaffirm our commitment to this ambitious project. We understand the essence of financial inclusion and the impact on national development. With our 10,000 strong agent network, we are well-positioned to serve the nooks and crannies.

“Working closely with governments at various levels and international agencies, IFIS is set to take its services deeper into the rural communities while creating new entrepreneurs and enhancing existing SMEs. “We express genuine appreciation to all of our esteemed agents (10,000 and counting), our valuable partners, stakeholders and the CBN for believing in our vision. We will continue to upgrade our systems and security measures in line with developments in the payments industry.

As a licensed super-agent with a high sense of responsibility and professionalism, we will continue to abide by the regulatory framework.”