Somalia’s largest telecommunication provider has been awarded the country’s first mobile money licence.
Central bank of Somalia said it has granted the Mogadishu-based Hormuud licence to operate EVC Plus which from henceforth be to subjected to central bank regulation.
“The mobile money sector in Somalia has never been regulated, which added to the perceived risk of the financial sector in Somalia,” the governor of Somalia’s monetary authority, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi told Reuters in a telephone interview. “This will help for the sector to have corresponding banking relations and integrate with the international financial system,”
Ahmed Mohamud Yuusuf, Hormuud Telecom’s chief executive said ‘the news cements what we’ve known for a long time, that Somalia is moving towards being the world’s first truly cashless economy.’
EVC Plus was first introduced in 2012, it is a unique option to transfer and receive mobile money, operating like SMS.
According to Ahmed Mohamed Yusuf, CEO, Hormuud Telecom, over 67% of Somalis, especially the most vulnerable communities, use mobile money technology as a sole payment system.
