Firms partner on payment solutions for SMEs

By Joy Baba-Yesufu

Digital payment service bank, 9 Payment Service Bank (9PSB) has entered into a strategic partnership with XCHANGEBOX, a licensed super-agent service provider, to deliver agent banking solutions to rural, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) via their flagship product, PAYREP.
The signing ceremony of the partnership took place at 9PSB head office in Victoria Island, Lagos.
The collaboration is aimed at facilitating the co-creation of products that will help to revolutionise customers’ payment experiences in Nigeria, to further deepen financial inclusion and bridge the gap between the banked and the unbanked/underbanked.
Through this partnership, the PAYREP Agency Platform will be used to provide tailor-made services to its agents, SMEs, merchants, and customers.
The Chief Executive Officer of 9 Payment Service Bank, Branka Mracajac, reiterated the bank’s commitment to financial inclusion during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the two companies.
She said this strategic partnership will further deepen payment solutions, adding that the two firms can now offer more financially inclusive products and services by leveraging on its agent networks to reach SMEs, merchants and customers.
“For us at 9PSB, financial Inclusion is a key social objective and we have always partnered various key stakeholders in keeping our mandate by providing easy access to financial services to the unbanked and underbanked in rural and semi-urban areas.
“With this very particular partnership with XCHANGEBOX, we aim to provide exceptional products that will improve and deepen access to financial services across every nook and cranny in the country. This we hope will excite all Nigerians and SME owners, and address their needs,” Mracajac added.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of XCHANGEBOX who was represented at the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony by the Co-founder/CCO, Abiola Jimoh, said the company undertook the partnership to drive payment solutions, especially in Northern Nigeria where most of its operations are based.
He noted that the partnership would enable financial inclusion through its wide range of agent networks to customers, SMEs, and merchants by jointly creating specific products that will meet the growing needs of customers using its flagship platform, PAYREP.