Airtel-Tigo customers who deposit on the telecom’s financial platforms will from this quarter onwards be paid interest on funds held on their Airtel Money and Tigo Cash wallets on a daily basis.

The development comes after the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) gave a greenlight to the telecom giant to pay over Rwf 121 million in interest accrued since December to all its subscribers who deposited funds on Tigo Cash during the period.

Speaking during a news conference, Amit Chawla, the company’s Commercial Director, said the interest is payable to individual customers based on the e-money value they stored in their Tigo Cash wallets.

"For over the past six months, the Tigo Cash trust account has been accumulating returns which had reached a value of Rwf121 million by June this year. The objective of this dividend payout is to offer all Airtel-Tigo stakeholders an opportunity to share in this return on their investment depending on the e-value they store in their wallets,” he explained.

He said the return to customers will be calculated based on Airtel Money and Tigo Cash’s customers’ average daily balance in their mobile wallet and paid out every quarter, adding that this profit share distribution scheme is in line with the central bank’s trust account policy issued in 2016.

Airtel Rwanda becomes the first mobile money service in Rwanda to distribute interest generated from its mobile money trust accounts in the form of a quarterly distribution to its customers.

Airtel Rwanda early this year acquired Tigo Rwanda consequently increasing their market share to about 5.1 million subscribers. The telco has about 1.7 million clients subscribed to its mobile financial services, Airtel Money and Tigo Cash.

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