MTN MobileMoney Limited has suspended the wallets of mobile money agents for flouting the new ID verification directive introduced earlier this month.
Some mobile money agents are said to have allowed customers to make people transfer money to the agents wallets, after which cash out was allowed for them.
Without mentioning how many merchants have been sanctioned, CEO of MobileMoney Limited, Eli Hini told journalists in a virtual forum that for a first time offence, their wallets have been terminated and they will be engaged and be made to sign a bond of compliance before the wallets will be reactivated.
“Those who flout the directive for a second time will have their wallets completely deactivated for good and they will be blacklisted all the way to the regulator level – which means they will not be able to work as agents for any other mobile money platform,” he said.
Meanwhile, to ensure stricter ID validation for cash out, Eli Hini said MTN has added another layer to the ID verification process where the name of the wallet owner will pop up on the agents screen during a cash out transaction and if it does not match the name on the ID, the transaction will be terminated.
