CBN to create non-interest window

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that it is working to create a non-interest window for the development financing interventions.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele made the disclosure on Tuesday while delivering the keynote address at the 2018 financial inclusion conference by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) with the theme “the Business Case for Financial Inclusion”

Emefiele said “the interest free window will assimilate a large section of the population excluded due to their aversion for interest and interest-based products, into the financial system.”

The aim of the conference is to examine how to drive the uptake of financial products and services specifically targeted at the poor and at the same time provide stakeholders with the right incentives to create and support these products and services.

Emefiele who was represented by the Deputy Director, Development Finance Department, Osita Nwanisobi, said  some assumptions in the original strategy such as need to open more branches of banks and microfinance banks are no longer in vogue due to technological advancement.

“It identified women, youths, rural areas, northern region and MSMEs as the most excluded sectors of the Nigerian population. The usual high exclusion rates amongst the groups have been ascribed to a number of factors, such as cultural barriers to uptake of financial products, difficulties in offering profitable services, worsening levels of unemployment, security challenges and continuing large share of the informal sector” he added.

He said the Bank’s commitment to sustaining collaboration with other relevant stakeholders, including government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and development partners, to drive the financial inclusion in Nigeria to its logical conclusion.