CEM REPORT, FINANCE | First City Monument Bank (FCMB) customers can now borrow between N200 and N5,000 worth of airtime directly from their bank accounts regardless of their financial standing.
The new product, FCMB Airtime Advance, will eliminate the discomfort of getting disconnected in the middle of telephone calls due to insufficient airtime by bridging the funding gap.
Speaking at the product launch in Lagos, Managing Director of FCMB, Yemisi Edun, said FCMB airtime advance will generally tend to customers in urgent need of airtime to make phone calls, send text messages or engage in other essential communication activities.
Edun added that customers with or without existing FastCash loans can access the airtime advance based on eligibility and that the repayment would be taken from funds in the customers’ accounts.
Meanwhile, telecommunication firms have issued Deposit Money Banks disconnection notice over unpaid Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) service debt.
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According to telcos, banks owe them N120bn for using their USSD infrastructure for financial services.
Although it is presently unclear the agreement between FCMB and telcos to provide the FCMB Airtime Advance service, CEM will monitor the implementation of this product amidst the controversy.
