Synergy among banks, others will drive financial inclusion- experts

Experts say synergy among banks, fintech firms, and financial regulators will help in driving financial inclusion and drastically reduce the number of unbanked and underserved in Nigeria.

The experts spoke at Industry Summit on ‘financial inclusion, digital payment and the challenges of banking the unbanked’ held in Lagos recently.

According to them, available statistics show that about 40 million adult Nigerians are financially excluded and this number is high for a country that intends to drive economic growth through financial inclusion.

Leading the discussion, Chizor Malize, the CEO of Financial Institutions Training Centre, (FITC) said low cost of transactions and reduction in the use of cash for business dealing will be achieved when this synergy among the players happens.

Reiterating the poverty index of Nigeria as the country was in 2018 dubbed the ‘poverty capital’ of the world with over 86.8 million people living in extreme poverty, according to the World Bank Group, Malize believed that making more Nigerians enjoy financial services will pull the lever for economic growth for both individuals and the country.

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She said that financial inclusion has been identified as the enabler of seven out of 17 point agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals. These include no poverty, zero hunger, good health, quality education and reduced inequalities which will promote economic stability, national security and create national wealth.

According to her, people do not use financial services for saving funds and making payments only, they need access to other financial tools such as insurance, the capital and money market, loans, and financial advisory.

Citing a World Bank report, the Malize said countries that have achieved the most progress toward financial inclusion have allowed mobile financial services to thrive and welcomed new business models, such as leveraging e-commerce data for financial inclusion. They have also taken a strategic approach by developing a national financial inclusion strategy (NFIS) which brings together diverse stakeholders including financial regulators, telecommunications, competition and education ministries and paying attention to consumer protection and financial capability to promote responsible, sustainable financial services.

Also speaking on education for financial inclusion, Chioma Afe, group head, retail marketing and analytics of Access Bank said people trust their neighbourhood for more understanding about the use of phones for transactions.

Earlier, the convener of the Industry Summit, Goddie Ofose said the objective was to address the challenges to financial inclusion in order to drive Nigeria away from the poverty capital of the world.