The pace of development of Fintech in Nigeria would be determined by the lifestyle need and demand for innovation by consumers, Toyin Albert, group head of Switching Processing and Terminal Services, Xpress Payments Solutions, said at the inaugural edition of Lagos Fintech.
According to Albert, there has been a dynamic shift in the drivers of growth of financial technology in Nigeria from what it used to be, and this has significant implications for the country where a lot of start-ups are springing up around financial technology solutions.
“Before now, about 15 to 20 years ago, the e-payment space actually gives you what they have but now, customers demand what they want,” she said.
The progress noted in Fintech ecosystem has seen Nigeria drive closer to its financial inclusion target of 80 per cent by 2020 as was acknowledged by experts in the industry and regulators at the event tagged “Fintech: Exploring the huge opportunities.” The event held from April 23 to 25, 2019.
However, with the increasing need for convenience, faster and cheaper ways to move money around coupled with the rise of a social-media influenced lifestyle, Fintech solutions need to evolve and match consumer behaviour to sustain its impact on the economy in bringing more people into the formal financial system.
“At Xpress Payment Solutions, we have a lifestyle platform that allows households to pay for bills, make purchases or carry out any kind of transactions stress-free,’’ she said.
In addition to finding out what consumers need is, she suggested that Fintechs must pay attention to the manner in which the solutions were made available.
“For us, we sit with our clients to co-create and offer innovative solutions to improve their processes,” she said.
At the event, stakeholders called for greater collaboration between players in the ecosystem and more infrastructure investment from the government and private sector, which would enable the sector attain its full potential in terms of innovation.
A panel discussion held on “The future of money” agreed that money was changing form and the digitalisation of money was going to disrupt the banking space as consumers were increasingly able to carry out many of their transactions outside of a traditional banking platform.
According to the panel, “consumers want to be able to make purchases from the comfort of their bed and have it delivered at their doorsteps,” necessitating the use of new payment systems and forms of money.
