Deputy Governor, Operations, Central Bank of Nigeria, Alhaji Suleiman Barau will lead banking and electronic payment experts and service providers to examine the prospects and challenges of using mobile payments to drive financial inclusion at the 5thannual retreat of the Committee of e-Banking Industry Heads (CeBIH).
The theme of the two day retreat is “Mobile Payments for Financial Inclusion in Nigeria – Prospects & Challenges” and is scheduled to hold from Thursday2nd to Friday 3rd December 2015 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
The retreat which will be declared open by the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, His Excellency Udom Emmanuel will feature keynote addresses by the Deputy Governor and the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Wema Bank Plc, Mr Segun Oloketuyi. Technical sessions would be anchored by renown experts in the electronic and mobile payments space such as Mr Valentine Obi, Managing Director, eTranzact International Plc, Mr Eric Muriuki Njagi from the Commercial Bank of Africa, Kenya and Mr. Frederik Eijkman, Chief Executive Officer, PEP Intermedius, Kenya.
Commenting on the retreat, CeBIH Chairman, Mr. Tunde Kuponiyi said, “The theme of the retreat was informed by the recognition of the increasing role of mobile payments in removing traditional barriers to financial inclusion, which is also one of the aims of the cashless policy introduced three years ago.
According to available statistics over 36million Nigerians are financially excluded i.e. they have no access to formal financial or banking services. The CBN and all the banks however seek to ensure that this figure is reduced to the barest minimum by the year 2020.
He said further, “Having deployed various channels of payments – PoS, Web, ATM and Mobile, it very obvious that the most suitable channel for targeting and penetrating the massive unbanked population is the mobile and this is easy to understand considering the rate of adoption of mobile telephone usage even among the people at the base of the pyramid. There is no gainsaying; the future of banking is mobile. The 5th annual retreat of CeBIH seeks to examine the prospects, challenges, security concerns, policy frameworks and ways in which mobile payments can be effectively deployed to achieve the objectives of the CBN in ensuring that a very large percentage of Nigerians have access to financial services and as well as attaining Nigeria’s Vision 20:2020 goal of being among the top 20 economies by the year 2020.”
Established July 2009, CeBIH comprises of all heads of e-business/e-channels and cards services of all the 23 banks in Nigeria. The primary objective of the Committee is to promote electronic banking services in line with global best practices and serve as a forum for sharing ideas and experiences by the E-banking industry Heads.