300 of 744 LGAs are without bank branches in Nigeria – AMMBAN

The Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN) has decried banks’ inabilities to cover the whole 744 Local Government Areas in terms of banks’ branches location in the Country, claiming that 300 out of the 774 Local Government Areas are without bank branches.

Fasasi Sarafadeen, National President, AMMBAN stated this at the 8th Annual National Conference held recently in Benin, the Capital of Edo State, saying the data obtained from a survey carried out by the Association in 2024, which was based on the last 2023 Report, put financial inclusion in the Country at 64%.

He submitted that access to commercial banks is of concern to the Association as a result of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) regulation that makes it mandatory for BVN and or NIN enrollment/ modification before owing an account or a money wallet requires the presence of bank branches which are majorly the structures for such purposes.

He explained that to address the challenges of the absence of bank branches in the Local Government Areas, AMMBAN had introduced a one-stop shop for financial services.

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The AMMBAN president listed the services to include offering NIN, BVN, account opening, card issuance, SIM registration, savings, credit, and insurance, among others, which are available across the excluded Local Government Areas.

He also stated that Nigerian banks lost N62.6 billion to fraud in the second quarter of 2024.

Sharafadeen, who referred to the financial data made available by FITC, added that most of the frauds were traced to agent locations through the use of stolen cards or phones, fake alerts, and ransom cashouts, among others.

He also listed reforms by the Association to tackle fraud in the financial sector as the introduction of an automated verifiable identity card for agents.

“Launching of a Joint Task Force (JTF) in conjunction with the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), DSS, NSCDC and other security agencies.

“JTF has been providing intelligence for the security agencies on enforcement sanity and regulatory standards at agent locations in the public interest.

“AMMBAN has indeed led the way of data to actions by turning our insights into inclusive financial solutions (NFIC), Agent QR-coded ID card, Agent Joint Task Force, AMMBAN cooperative, AMMBAN women wing, etc”, he said.