By: Godgift Harris
The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has signed a landmark agreement with Lonestar Cell/MTN Mobile Money and Orange Money to enable customers send and receive funds seamlessly between the two mobile money platforms.
The agreement is anchored under the Inclusive Instant Payment System (IIPS), a national initiative aimed at improving the speed, safety and convenience of electronic payments across different financial networks in Liberia.
Under the arrangement, the Central Bank of Liberia will oversee settlement accounts in both Liberian and United States Dollars, conduct daily settlements, facilitate the movement of funds between the mobile money operators, and generate reports to ensure transparency and regulatory compliance.
Lonestar Cell/MTN Mobile Money and Orange Money, for their part, will maintain settlement accounts at the Central Bank, ensure sufficient liquidity to support daily transactions, and provide required data to enable effective monitoring and compliance with regulatory standards.
The agreement, which will remain in force for an initial period of three years with the option for renewal, outlines clear operational rules, performance benchmarks and penalty clauses designed to guarantee efficiency, accountability and service reliability.
Thitsa Works, Liberia’s national payment switch operator, will manage the technological infrastructure linking the networks, handle daily transaction reconciliation, and transmit settlement instructions to the Central Bank.
The initiative is expected to significantly advance Liberia’s financial inclusion agenda by allowing mobile money users to transact instantly across networks.
With the official launch of the system scheduled for December 16, Liberians are expected to benefit from faster, safer and more secure mobile money transactions nationwide.