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CellTrust Corp., a provider of SecureSMS for mobile phones, has announced that its SecureSMS platform meets the new and stringent SecureSMS security requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

 

“We meet the rigorous mobile security and compliance requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria,” said Sean Moshir, chairman and CEO at CellTrust (News - Alert), adding that CellTrust SecureSMS helps reduce fraud, lowers call center costs, and increases revenue potential while reaching out to the approximately 60 million un-banked citizens across Nigeria.

 

The Central Bank of Nigeria has been working to spur innovation within the financial services sector as around 53 percent of the adult population in Nigeria is financially excluded.

 

In 2007, the government of Nigeria launched its FSS 2020 strategy to catapult the country into the ranks of the top 20 global financial systems by 2020. It went about promoting microfinance. Recently, the government started promoting secure mobile banking in an effort to extend financial products and services to those previously excluded.

Since the launch of the FSS 2020, microfinance and short message service (SMS) banking have proliferated throughout Nigeria, said officials of Central Bank of Nigeria. The bank released new rigorous security and compliance regulations in June.

 

Officials said that the new regulations compelled financial service providers and their partners to utilize Secure SMS when transmitting remittance information through SMS

Moreover, they require a complete audit trail for all levels of the financial transaction including SMS remittance information to be maintained for a minimum of five years.

 

“We are witnessing a rise in awareness and a dramatic shift towards mobile money transactions in the region,” noted Samuel Ucheaga, managing director at CellTrust of Africa

 

He added that CellTrust's SecureSMS meets the “highest level” of security and encryption and is combined with the easy use of SMS, making it ideal for the high growth Nigerian market. “We now have the real possibility that all could be financially included and none excluded.”

 

CellTrust SecureSMS manages and exchange messages through CellTrust’s Global SecureSMS Gateway (News - Alert) to meet security, privacy and compliance requirements, and also eliminates the need for costly developments, according to company officials.

 

In addition, it also sets aside concern that carriers, tower operators, infrastructure providers, aggregators, and others can intercept and read text messages; confirm that text message recipients have received and opened SMS messages; use the same set of APIs to send both secure and standard SMS or text messages; and remotely “wipe” the handset if lost or stolen.