Investments electronic payment systems hit $500m- CBN

From Uche Usim, Abuja

Central Bank of Nigeria CBN Governor Mr Godwin Emefiele has advised banks to adopt technology tools to enhance the country’s payment services, noting that payment services has attracted investment of about $500 million in firms operated by Nigerian founders.

He made the disclosure at the 31st seminar for financial correspondents and business editors in Enugu on Wednesday.

Emefiele, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Mr Edward Adamu, explained that the country’s payment method had traction and huge confidence from the global financial services ecosystem between 2015 and 2020.

According to him, the robust payment method had continued to advance towards meeting households and businesses needs in the country.

“In spite of these gains, about 36 per cent of adult Nigerians still do not have access to financial services,” he said.

“Improving access to finance for individuals and businesses through digital channels can help to improve financial inclusion, lower the cost of transactions, and increase the flow of credit to businesses.”

He noted that the post-COVID economy was predicted to be overwhelmed by the radically altered financial industry landscape.

He added that the accelerated shift towards digital financial services would bring more investments and enable competition among traditional financial institutions.

“This calls for an increased and intensive regulatory scrutiny on the part of regulators to proactively monitor developments and ensure the continuous safety and soundness of the financial ecosystem,” he added.

“It is, therefore, imperative that regulators must keep pace with these exponential developments and leverage new knowledge and technology tools such as Regtech and Suptech to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their mandate.

“Over the past 14 years, the Nigerian payment system has evolved significantly with extensive technological development backed by deliberate enabling regulation by the CBN.

“This has, no doubt, accelerated the development of novel financial products, services and channels all of which have placed Nigeria at the forefront of the financial innovation race.”

He further revealed that 36 percent of adult Nigerians do not have access to financial services, assuring that efforts were in top gear to bridge the financial exclusion gap leveraging on technology and eNaira that would be ‘launched in a couple of days’.