Corpers, Fintech to dive CBN’s financial inclusion target

By Odunewu Olusegun

Members of the National Youth Service Corps and Fintech firms have been identified as key partners in driving the Central Bank of Nigeria’s financial inclusion target in the country.

Earlier in the year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had expressed optimism that the 80% financial inclusion target will be reached by 2020. But with one year to the 2020 target and recent data from Enhancing Financial Innovative and Access (EFInA) indicating that 36.8% eligible Nigerian adults still do not have access to financial services as of 2018, the likelihood of achieving the 80% financial inclusion target by 2020 became slimmer and necessitated the review.

To aid the achievement of this target, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has approved the posting of corps members to deposit money banks (DMBs), microfinance banks (MFBs) and local government areas (LGAs) from now till 2024.

The corps members will serve as peer educators, particularly in the rural areas, to each drive the opening of 200 new accounts by the end of 2019 and complement other ongoing efforts by the CBN.

Earlier in the year, the CBN Governor unveiled four policy documents for the financial sector; The revised National Financial Inclusion Strategy, the Financial Literacy Framework, the Consumer Protection Framework and the Consumer Education Framework, all of which are targeted at facilitating the attainment of the financial inclusion target.

Similarly, Fintech firms are filling the gap between financial services companies and customers by disrupting key financial services segments ñ digital payments (Paytech), digital insurance (Insurtech), banking (Banktech), wealth management services (Wealthtech), and regulations (Regtech) and creating space for selling financial products.

Not only are fintech firms involved in financial deepening, they also facilitate economic development in SSA. Fintech supports technological advancement in other sectors such as agriculture and infrastructure as well, boosting economic growth.

Big technology firms such as Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Alibaba have also entered the financial services space, enhancing innovation and competition.

At a time when technology is disrupting the global financial services industry, Nigeria too has been part of the change. Although a cash economy, Nigeria’s financial system is receptive to the new transformations in the financial system, especially the introduction of technology.

The digitisation of the financial services industry, especially banking, is underway with Wema Bank launching Nigeriaís first fully digital bank, ALAT, in 2017. With ALAT, Nigerians can open a fully functional account online through the web or the app in a mere five minutes. Such easy access to banks, using technology, should improve financial inclusion in the country.