The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan has advocated a closer collaboration between banks, Telcos, Fintechs and industry regulators to enhance savings and lending in the financial landscape.
This development according to him will generate activities in the economy and expand wealth creation. Akinwuntan who was speaking at the ‘Fintech in Nigeria: State of Play’ event based on the research and moderation of the Economist Intelligence Unit, stated that the Fintech industry is currently more active in payments as against wealth creation, which is the ultimate goal for financial inclusion. He noted that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been proactive in providing a regulatory environment for the collaboration of players with emphasis on customer protection which has improved customers’ trust in using digital channels.
Mr Akinwuntan who commended the role fintechs play in facilitating payment, said “there is need to deepen their presence in lending and savings. This is why I maintained that collaboration between Fintech and banks is valuable. We are not at the stage of competition yet; we are at a situation where although we have our profitability interests, we will actually gain much more by collaborating”. He added that “in the area of savings and lending, be it to the agriculture sector, the creative sector or the young graduates setting out to be entrepreneurs directly, the ability to save even in little bits creates a profile that would be able to attract lending that you can translate into economic value.
Specifically, the Ecobank Managing Director stated that the Fintech industry rose to the situation especially in the payment space and increasingly in lending and savings during the Covid 19 pandemic lockdown in the country. He noted that “between March and April, the number of transactions in the payment space for Fintech grew in multiples of close to 800%. We saw significant participation of the Fintech industry in actually reaching more of the underserved in the market by reducing cost of access and making these services available all the time ether by using traditional banks or in collaboration with government agencies.”
Mr. Akinwuntan explained that Ecobank had uninterrupted banking services for its customers through its digital platforms and agency banking during the lockdown, “we had invested significantly in our digital platforms; given the nature of Ecobank as a pan African institution, the only way we could reach every household was to leverage the digital platform. We saw a marked […]