Nigeria must coordinate banks, fintechs, telcos for trusted digital economy

Ajibade Laolu-Adewale, chairman of the Committee of E-Business Industry Heads (CeBIH), has called for urgent coordination across Nigeria’s financial ecosystem, warning that rapid growth in digital payments risks being undermined by weak trust, poor interoperability, and fragmented intelligence systems.

Speaking during his keynote address at the BusinessDay Fintech Summit 2026, Laolu-Adewale, who was represented by Abidemi Asunmo, executive committee member of the Committee of e-Banking Industry Heads (CeBIH), said Nigeria’s next phase of digital finance growth must rest on three pillars—trust, interoperability, and intelligence.

“We must coordinate the actions of banks, fintechs, telcos, switches, regulators, and technology providers to build a system that is not only fast and inclusive but also trusted and interoperable,” he said. “Speed without trust is a liability, and growth without interoperability is fragmentation.”

Nigeria’s financial inclusion has risen from below 30 percent to over 70 percent in two decades, driven by mobile money, agent banking, and fintech innovation. But according to him, this growth has exposed vulnerabilities, particularly failed transactions, delayed dispute resolution, and fraud.

“When transactions fail, or reversals take too long, customers lose confidence and blame the entire ecosystem,” he said.

He proposed three actions: enforce service level agreements across all players, deploy AI-driven dispute resolution to resolve issues within hours, and introduce a customer-focused refund scheme to compensate fraud victims quickly. “Trust is not a brand promise; it is a system promise,” he added.

On infrastructure, Laolu-Adewale described interoperability as the “missing middle” of Nigeria’s financial system. Despite progress in identity systems and open banking initiatives by the Central Bank of Nigeria, users still face friction when moving money across platforms or accessing consolidated financial data.

He called for a “national interoperability accord” requiring all financial institutions to adopt common API standards and timelines.

“Interoperability is not just technical—it is commercial, legal, and governance-driven,” he said.

Laolu-Adewale also stressed the need for intelligence in financial systems, noting that most processes today remain reactive. He advocated real-time, AI-powered systems for reconciliation, fraud detection, and liquidity management.

“With shared data and machine learning, the ecosystem becomes more resilient,” he said, while warning that data governance and privacy must be addressed collaboratively.

He concluded that Nigeria risks inefficiency without deliberate coordination.

“Growth without coordination will be chaotic. The future, a trusted, interoperable, intelligent system, will be built through deliberate action,” he said, urging stakeholders to commit to measurable reforms focused on the customer.