FirstBank launches new payment platform

First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FBN) has again brazed the trail as it introduced a new platform that allows customers make transfers from the comfort of their homes.

In a released issued by FBN, it stated that it is offering mobile payment services to both banked and unbanked customers through its Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) – *894#.

The bank explained that the USSD is a protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the service provider’s computers.

“USSD stands for Unstructured Supplementary Services Data and the USSD Gateway is based upon the ability of the delivery agent or the source to send and receive USSD messages.

“Unlike similar services (SMS and MMS), which are store and forward based, USSD establishes a real time session between mobile handset and application handling the service,” it noted.

FirstBank said it has improved its USSD “*894#” access channel to become quicker and more robust with the incorporation of various banking services into USSD codes.