Nigeria’s upcoming national microfinance bank to install new techs

Central Bank of Nigeria already announced in December last year its plan to introduce a national microfinance Bank. It also previously declared its plan to collaborate with the Banker’s Committee and the 774 local Nigerian Postal Services offices.

Central Bank of Nigeria again came on the out front to declare that the bank would be established in collaboration with the Bankers Committee, the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST).

According to Godwin Emefiele, governor of Central Bank of Nigeria said in Nigeria’s capital city Abuja that the new national microfinance bank, which shall be technology-driven, will leverage on the NIPOST’s presence in 774 local government areas of the country to reach its target beneficiaries. “The bank will serve as an efficient channel for the disbursement and monitoring of key intervention funds by the CBN, such as the Anchor Borrowers fund, SME fund, etc, to farmers and SMEs at the grassroots level,” he added.

He added that the conference will offer the right podium for participants to deliberate on key imperatives for achieving the country’s financial inclusion targets, promoting financial stability and entrenching sustainable and inclusive economic growth, as reported by Premium Times.

The theme of the conference was ‘Implementing Financial Literacy and Consumer Protection to advance Financial Inclusion in Nigeria’. This was selected to help focus on the requirement to redress the challenges limiting financial inclusion in the country.

On the other hand, as far as implementation of technologies is concerned, microfinance banks are leading innovation in Nigeria’s financial services sector by tapping into cloud-based technology, rather than on-premise IT systems that include investment in heavy servers and data centres. Through cloud-based technology, MFBs can integrate their core banking system with delivery channels and agents through an open Application Programming Interface, API, a technical intermediary that enables two applications or software programs to communicate and function as one. This enables MFBs to be more competitive in their markets and build their client base, Vanguard noted.