Culled—Proshare
11/10/2017/FINTECHng
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) have commended the Fintech Association of Nigeria for its efforts in bridging the gap between the regulators, government and the active players in the Nigerian Fintech ecosystem
In a separate meeting between the members of the Governing Council of the Association, led by its President, Dr. Segun Aina and Director, Banking and Payment CBN, Mr Dipo Fatokun and the Executive Director, Market Operations and Technology NSE, Mr Ade Bajomo; both the CBN and NSE agreed with the justification for setting up of FintechNGR, adding that its establishment was long overdue for the development of finTech ecosystem in Nigeria.
While emphasizing the importance of the Association, Aina said the Association would leverage on its global network to bring best practices to the finTech initiatives of the CBN thereby assisting the bank to achieve its mandate more effectively and efficiently as the Association serves as the arrowhead for the coordination of the ecosystem.
“The joint initiatives of the Association (FintechNGR) and CBN is meant to drive the benefits of financial inclusion down the bottom of the pyramid” says Bunmi Lawson, Vice President, FintechNGR and CEO of Accion Microfinance Bank.
“ The Association by its network of membership would serve to remove regulatory bottlenecks that stifle innovation as it bridges the gap between the innovators, government and regulators.” according to Isa Alade, General Secretary, FintechNGR and Associate Partner at Banwo & Ighodalo
Speaking further, Aina said that the establishment of the Association would also engender inter-agency relationship amongst regulators and the government comprising of CBN, SEC, NSE, NAICOM, NDIC, amongst others.
Olufemi Awoyemi, Member, FintechNGR GovCo and founder/CEO of Proshare Ltd also emphasized the need for collaborative efforts within the ecosystem as it would unleash the massive potential in the Nigerian finTech ecosystem, adding that the “Association would serve to bridge information gaps amongst various stakeholders in the finTech ecosystem thereby enabling access to the opportunities that abounds within the space.”
At both meetings, the Association was tasked to ramp up the work in and around issues bothering on Fintech to the attention of the regulators and government with a focus on actual solutions that brings the largely informal markets into the formal/mainstream financial system, expand on the financial inclusion benchmarks and ensure that regulation promotes rather than stifles creative solutions; all of which is better achieved through a collaborative and constructive engagement platform that delivers a comparable benchmark with global standards.
The consistent engagement between the Association, regulators and government would surely promote home made innovative finTech solutions,which would impact positively on the economy and the society at large.