CellTrust Corporation, the world's largest provider of SecureSMS for mobile phones, announced today its SecureSMS platform meets the new and stringent SecureSMS security requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
With approximately 53% of the adult population in Nigeria financially excluded, the Central Bank of Nigeria has been working feverishly to spur innovation within the financial services sector. As the government of Nigeria launched its FSS 2020 strategy back in 2007 to catapult the country into the ranks of the top 20 global financial systems by 2020, it went about promoting microfinance and more recently secure mobile banking in effort to extend financial products and services to those previously excluded.
Since the launch of the FSS 2020, microfinance and SMS banking have proliferated throughout Nigeria. In June of this year the Central Bank of Nigeria released new and significantly more rigorous security and compliance regulations compelling financial service providers and their partners to utilize Secure SMS when transmitting remittance information via SMS. Furthermore, 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 pleased to announce that we meet the rigorous mobile security and compliance requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria," said Sean Moshir, Chairman and CEO of CellTrust. "CellTrust SecureSMS helps reduce fraud, lower call center costs, and increase revenue potential while dramatically reaching out to the approximately 60 million un-banked citizens across Nigeria."
CellTrust SecureSMS manages and exchanges messages via CellTrust's Global SecureSMS Gateway to:
- Meet security, privacy and compliance requirements without costly development
- Set 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
- Remotely "wipe" the handset if lost or stolen
- Provide a comprehensive and definitive audit trail
"We are witnessing a rise in awareness and a dramatic shift towards mobile money transactions in the region. With CellTrust's SecureSMS meeting the highest level of security and encryption, combined with the easy use of SMS, it is perfectly suited for this high growth market," said Samuel Ucheaga, Managing Director, CellTrust of Africa. "We now have the real possibility that all could be financially included and none excluded."
CellTrust's SecureSMS has recently received the 2008 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award and was voted Best Messaging Security Solution by the Info Security Products Guide's Tomorrow's Technology Today Award. SecureSMS was accredited as a finalist for the Third Annual CTIA Emerging Technology Award, and was named the winner of three Mobile Star Awards, and the prestigious Mobile Marketing Association 2008 Global Relationship Building Award.