Finance Houses Association of Nigeria (FHAN) will enhance the capabilities of its members and work closely with its regulator to boost its presence within the financial services sector, the body’s new president said at its Annual General Meeting in Lagos Tuesday.
Akinwande Ademosu, CEO of Credit Direct and the newly elected president of FHAN, said repositioning the association would result in larger gains for the economy because finance houses are uniquely positioned to reach SMEs and the financially excluded.
“The relevance of the association has not been well established so we have to build an ecosystem, considering our contributions to the financial services sector,” said Ademosu, who disclosed that around 21 finance houses have joined the industry since 2019.
To increase impact, FHAN said it would focus on repositioning the association through rebranding and image building, improving its relevance, as well as building and improving on existing systems and structures by empowering members.
The association added that it would embark on more purposeful regulator’s engagement with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and consider a partnership with other financial Institution’s Councils or bodies.
FHAN at its AGM noted improvements in its financial performance between 2017 and 2018 full-year where income hit an all-time high of N16.9 million.
The association which is made up of non-bank financial institutions also said it seeks greater regulation by the CBN on the activities of non-bank financial services operators outside its umbrella in a bid to improve trust and financial discipline in the industry.
According to FHAN, the corporative license issued at the state level for around N15,000 is beclouding the influence of the sector because the operators are not regulated.
The result is that the finance houses always get blamed when customers lose funds in custody of the unregulated operators, said Ademosu.
FHAN said the CBN should make it easier for intending operators to get a financial services license through incentives like a stabilisation fund or similar provisions that can be drawn on by qualified organisations.
Expanding the reach of finance houses to activities like trading in foreign exchange was also identified as a way of strengthening finance houses in the country.
“One of the things we have agreed to in the meeting today is to have a strategy session where we look at the policy and business framework that establishes us and make recommendations to the CBN which would prepare us for the future,” said Ademosu.
FHAN noted the challenging operating environment for finance houses in Nigeria but said it remained upbeat about the resilience of its members and potential in Nigeria’s large youthful and enterprising population.
