Transactions made in cash are losing ground to digital payments, and governments around the world are considering the merits of losing paper currency for good, as Bloomberg puts it in a report detailing how close we are to a cashless society.
While cash payments are losing grounds to digital transactions, one area that is yet to be transformed is the one that has to do with being able to deposit money into a bank account from the comfort of your home.
And one way Nigerians thought is possible to be able to deposit cash into a bank account without having to visit the banking hall, was converting airtime (recharge card) into deposit money.
As with the convenience of flicking a finger or swiping, and consumers have access to all their liquid wealth on their smartphones, and also able to transfer this, they want the convenience to also be able to make deposit into their accounts by dialing some USSD codes or by sending an SMS. Although there are ATMs that accept cash deposit, this would have been more convenient.
Using the SMS option, a bank customer would have only had to:
- Buy airtime (MTN, Airetel, Glo & 9mobile, all networks inclusive)
- Recharge it on the phone line linked with BVN/Bank Account
- Send an SMS (say: Deposit 10000 1234567890 XXXX [where Deposit is the trigger, 10000 is the amount to be deposited, 1234567890 is the account number and XXXX is the PIN attached to the Depositor’s account) to the dedicated number (1234) using the phone number attached to the BVN/account.
- This amount is then deducted from the airtime recharged and credited on the customer’s’ account
Using the USSD option, a bank customer would have only had to:
- Buy airtime (MTN, Airtel, Glo & 9mobile, all networks inclusive)
- Recharge it on the phone line linked with BVN/Bank Account
- Dial *DedicatedNumber*DepositSum*AccountNumber*PIN# send (eg: *1234*10000*1234567890*0000# send) from the phone line linked with BVN/Bank Account
- This amount is then deducted from the airtime recharged and credited on the customer’s’ account
This means that a large population of the poor masses can be able to make little more savings given the convenience that will come with this. The market woman making N500 daily contribution with a thrift collector and losing some amount for the collector at the end of the month can then actually be able to do that daily contribution conveniently; and well other benefits that could come with this kind of deposit convenience.
But, while there are several downsides to this, a chat with a SystemSpecs expert shows that there is one bigger downside, which governments world over have seen, that has barred this from being actualized.
It means that telecommunication operators can now actually be able to print their own currency. And by implication, over time, airtime could turn out to become legal tender for financial transactions.
India’s recent attempt to remove 86% of cash in circulation showed that going cashless is not easy. The country withdrew high-value notes in late 2016, shocking its cash-dependent economy.
In this era of digital transactions, is a completely cashless society possible? What do you think can make depositing money into your bank account from the comfort of your home possible?
Leave a comment below.