Banks lift suspension of USSD transactions on MTN customers

Commercial banks across the country have lifted their suspension of unstructured supplementary service data (USSD)  transactions on MTN lines.

The blockade, according to a report from The Punch, occurred when the telco reduced the banks’ commission from an average of 3.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent. The banks had written MTN to revert to the old commission, otherwise, they would block MTN airtime in all their channels.

The banks, except Zenith Bank, which was connected directly to MTN, subsequently blocked MTN from their banking channels, leaving millions of customers stranded as they were unable to recharge virtually.

However, NewsWireNGR gathered that the banks agreed to lift the suspension on Sunday after the intervention of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami; and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.

MTN had provided to its 77 million subscribers the platform of fintech companies such as Flutterwave, Jumia Pay, OPay, Kuda, Carbon and BillsnPay for as a temporary fix.