By Emeka Aginam

PAn-African ICT Company, Computer Warehouse Group Plc (CWG), has been issued the license to operate as Payment Terminal Service Provider (PTSP) to Point-of-Sale terminals (PoS) in Nigeria by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The PTSP license certifies that a company has the infrastructure to competently deploy, maintain and provide support for POS terminals in Nigeria.

A delegation of the apex bank had late last year visited CWG to assess the company’s preparedness to ensure that the company has fulfilled all conditions necessary to get license for Payment Terminal Service Provider in the country.

In a letter signed recently by Mr. Dipo Fatokun, the Director, Banking and Payment Systems Department, CBN noted that CWG “has successfully passed through the various stages of evaluation”.

“These include an inspection of the company’s facility and processes, an allowance of a test period, during which the company’s products were carefully examined for quality and standard. CWG is “hereby licensed to perform the activities Payment Terminal Service Provider (PTSP) for Point-of-Sale terminals (POS) in Nigeria”, Fatokun explained.

According to the CBN, “A PTSP shall offer services to acquirers covering all aspects relating to terminal management support, including but not limited to purchase and replacement of spare parts, provision of connectivity, training, repairs, and development of value added services, amongst other things.”

Reacting to the new development, Mr. Austin Okere, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer, CWG, said that the license is a testimony to the capability CWG Plc to competently deployfunctional PoS terminalsto the market at a time when CBN is vigorously pursuing the ideal of making the Nigerian business clime a cashless model.

According to Okere, “Our track record in the financial services sector as indicated in the deployment of our Finacle core banking application to foremost banks in Nigeria, our technical platforms for Firstmonie and DiamondYello account, are pointers to our capacity to be instrumental to the actualization of a truly cashless economy.”