New Sierra Leone mobile-banking rules expected to aid poor, rural residents

Financial services for Sierra Leone's poor should be more accessible, thanks to the nation’s first mobile-banking regulations, instituted through a partnership between the nation's Central Bank, Bank of Sierra Leone, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).

The regulations aim to make financial services more readily available to the country's women, children and poor living mainly in rural areas.

“This is not only for the convenience, but as an avenue to ensure that as many Sierra Leoneans as possible are included in the formal financial system of our country," Sierra Leone Gov. Momodu Kargbo.

Kargbo said mobile financial services were crucial during the country's Ebola crisis, as it was the only way aid workers could be paid on time.

“This is the first step toward encouraging people to adopt electronic channels of payments and move away from the traditional use of cash as means of payments and settlements of financial obligations,” Kargbo said.

Officials are still working to enhance security measures in the country's mobile-money services system.