• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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O3 Capital CEO seeks more collaboration between banks, FinTechs

Inside Nigeria’s quest to go cashless

Abimbola Pinheiro, founder and chief executive Officer of Nigeria’s foremost FinTech, O3 Capital Limited has emphasised the need for more collaboration between deposit money banks in the country and FinTech to deepen financial services in Nigeria.

Pinheiro, who made the call in a chat with journalists in Lagos also called on Nigerians to embrace cashless transaction and use credit cards for their immediate needs.

According to him, “For me and for us at 03 Capital, we at the fore of collaboration with banks, because everything is like an ecosystem. No matter what you do, there is always someone that can add more value to it. Fintechs are more of the last man to get to the end user. For instance, money has to move from one bank to the other. So, if we don’t collaborate with the banks, that will not help.

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“The telcos are there providing services, we have to collaborate with them because without them our POS terminals will not work. We always preach that look, you can’t be everything to everybody. So if in the case of where banks do wholesale bank, and let FinTechs like us do the retail to the end users, everybody wins and everybody makes their money.”

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He added, “And the thing is that everybody is an expert in a certain area. I have told some banks in the past to leave the retail business to the retail experts. So banks have tried to do some funny FinTech arrangements, they have not had good experiences. But at 03 Capital we have default of less than 4 per cent, which is amazing. Because we know what we do, we know how to analyze our profiles, we know what algorithm to ask for, so there is no way you will not collaborate. And it is only a matter of time really because you cannot be everything.

He added that O3 Capital is the bridge between the old brick and mortar banks and the future mobile or any kind of payment system.

“Because Nigerians have affinity to cash, the next thing to cash is card. So what 03 Capital offers is a credit card or prepaid card that works on any platform. Now we have a mobile app that mirrors that card on your phone. So everything you can do on your card, you can do on your phone, transfer money, withdraw cash from the ATM, use a POS terminal, look at your balances, change your PIN, everything.

“So it is that convenience that 03 Capital brings to the fore for people. So in terms of channel innovations, 03 Capital is like a financial supermarket where people will call a digital bank. Because we offer lending services, we offer saving services, we offer money management services. And we are awaiting the CBN approval to offer remittance services. And that is just the beginning.”

O3 Capital, he added, plans to expand its services to other countries and go global.

“When we achieve that, Nigerians can take an 03 card from Nigeria and go anywhere in the world and get the maximum benefits available, “he said.