Commercial banks, telecommunication companies and financial technology (Fintech) firms are competing in offering financial services to customers, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced.
CBN Director, Information Technology Department, Mrs. Rakiya Mohammed, disclosed this at the annual banking and technology forum organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Lagos.
Speaking on the theme: with theme: “Repositioning the Financial Services Industry in an Evolving Global Context”, she said that banks are fast becoming technology companies offering financial services just as technology has become both a leveler and a catalyst for competitive advantage.
She said that the apex bank has come to realize that technology will not wait for regulation, and therefore has decided to be as agile as possible.
According to her, “Fintechs, with the nimbleness of a cheetah are constantly innovating to suit the needs of the next generation of bank customers. The Fintechs are creating the buzz within the financial ecosystem in recent times”.
Besides fintechs, Mohammed said, major Telco’s in the country have also secured banking licenses, and given the scale of their technology infrastructure, they most likely will be leveraging their data assets to drive financial inclusion into the rural areas, reaching this huge unbanked section with customized financial products.
According to her, the banking industry has been greatly impacted by the advent of modern technological innovations adding that optimal electronic channels-Point of Sale, virtual cards, internet banking- are increasingly replacing the need for physical banking.
“Full scale virtual banking is the new normal and this was accelerated by the recent pandemic. While some organizations were caught off guard by the swift transition to contactless banking services during the pandemic, others who were prepared welcomed new customers into their folds and expanded their market share. Technology is not just the differentiator between service providers but the orchestrator of these changes,” she stated.
Mohammed explained that cashless channels for payment for goods and services is fast becoming the desired means for settlement, with N117.33 trillion transactions consummated in the first four months of 2022.
“The “Baby boomer generation” embraced plastic cards for making payments, millennials embraced e-commerce for buying and selling of goods and services, I submit that GenZ will bring us into the era of banking in the Metaverse.”
“The next generation of bank customers (GenZ) are technology savvy and digital natives unlike their predecessor. What they want is fast, mobile, borderless, and frictionless banking products and services as the very basic of their experience on our platforms. Anything short of this is unacceptable and like you know GenZ do not have the patience of their parent’s generation,” she said.
Mohammed said there is a generational shift occurring in customer demography and in the future, the GenZ will be the major recipients of banking services.
She advised banks to position their organizations in such a way as to adequately harness this potential.
“If we have learnt anything in the CBN, it is the fact that technology will not wait for regulation, so we decided to be as agile as possible. We have tried to be proactive by creating enabling environments via guidelines, frameworks, and innovative products to stimulate creativity in the banking sector without stifling the healthy competition among participants in the industry,”she stated.
