E-Financial
BoI, Others to Partner on Financial Inclusion
The Bank of Industry (BoI), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) have gone into partnership to deepen financial inclusion and poverty eradication in Nigeria.
Mrs Toyin Adeniji, Executive Director, Micro Enterprises, BoI, made the disclosure during a visit with the directors of the foundations to the Lagos State Plank and Building Materials Market Association.
Adeniji said that the partnership was to support the Federal Government’s social intervention programme, ‘Market Moni’, done under Government Enterprises and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).
The objective of GEEP is to deepen financial inclusion through provision of loans to market women, traders, artisans, enterprising youths, small scale farmers and agric workers nationwide.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation works with partner organisations worldwide to tackle critical problems, aimed at helping the world’s poorest people lift themselves out of hunger and poverty.
CGAP is a global partnership of more than 30 leading organisations that seeks to advance financial inclusion and develops innovative solutions through practical research and active engagement with financial service providers, policy makers, and funding organisations to scale up approaches.
“We are working in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and CGAP to ensure that we scale up GEEP to the target that the government wants to reach.
“Our target is to reach over a million beneficiaries; we are in partnership with them, they would support us so that we can scale up the programme and reach this target.
“They are with us at the plank market to see our operations and have an interaction with some of our beneficiaries.
“The plank sellers association is one of our beneficiaries; we have disbursed about 1,000 loans to them and we still have about 3,000 queued up on our system,” Adeniji said.
Mr Uzoma Nwagba, Chief Operating Officer, GEEP, said the programme was strengthening its collaboration with foreign and domestic partners, to deepen financial inclusion initiatives in the country.
Nwagba said that GEEP was a direct response of government to the challenge of access to funds, financial inclusion and demonstration of its resolve to fast-track growth and development of micro enterprises.
Dr Abi Jagun, Programme Officer, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said that the outfit was interested in supporting the government in its agenda on financial inclusion.
“We are interested in ensuring that poor people, people on low income, have affordable, convenient and secured access to financial services.
“We have heard about GEEP and what the Bank of Industry is doing. We came today to learn about what they are doing and part of the learning is to go to the market and speak to people who are receiving it.
“The visit helped us not to just to hear from Bank of Industry, the aggregators, but also people who are receiving the loan.
“It is a learning opportunity for us to understand what the government is trying to do because we would like to support the government or any government that is trying to improve the lives of the poor and low income earners,” she said.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has waived the 2025 licence renewal fee for all bureaux de change (BDC) operators.
Jonah Onojah, director of the financial policy and regulation department, announced that the waiver took immediate effect.
“This is to inform all existing bureaux de change that further to the Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for Bureau De Change Operations in Nigeria, 2024, and the ongoing transition to the new BDC regulatory structure, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has approved the waiver of 2025 licence renewal fee, effective immediately,” the statement reads.
“Any bureau de change that has paid for 2025 licence renewal is hereby advised to apply to the Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Central Bank of Nigeria for refund to its account from which the payment emanated.
“The CBN remains committed to fostering stability, transparency, and efficiency in the foreign exchange market while ensuring that operators align with the revised regulatory framework,” the statement said.
On May 22, 2024, CBN approved new guidelines for BDC operations to improve compliance and oversight.
In the guideline, CBN said all existing BDCs are to re-apply for a new licence according to any of the tiers or licence categories of their choice.
CBN said the guidelines are part of its efforts to re-position the BDC market to play its envisioned role in the foreign exchange market in Nigeria.
PalmPay, a Mobile Money Operator and digital payment platform has reaffirmed its role as a mobile payment provider, correcting the insinuation that it is a loan App.
Chika Nwosu, Chief Executive Officer, PalmPay, speaking at a press conference in Lagos clarified that PalmPay’s core mission is to provide seamless payment solutions and financial services, not to issue loans.
This clarification became necessary against erroneous messages in some social media platforms that the PalmPay is a loan App, as well as individuals wearing PalmPay-branded clothing allegedly been involved in arresting loan defaulters, raising concerns about the company’s role in debt recovery practices.
He explained that all lending activities on its platform are conducted by third-party financial institutions leveraging its ecosystem, not PalmPay itself.
“PalmPay is not a loan App. We provide a platform for third-party financial institutions to offer their services, including loans, to our users. These institutions operate independently and comply with all regulatory requirements,” Nwosu explained.
More so, Chika Nwosu identified smartphone penetration, internet connectivity and innovative technologies as key factors that are crucial to increased access to mobile money services in Nigeria.
According to him, with smartphone penetration projected to reach 65% by 2026 as well as improved internet infrastructure, more Nigerians will be enabled to access mobile money services.
He disclosed that, with fintech companies such as PalmPay evolving through digital wallets and seamless payment gateways, accessibility to mobile money service was bound to expand soon.
He emphasized that with demand for affordability of financial services growing, more opportunities would be unlocked for PalmPay in the nearest future.
“From under 10,000 agents in 2015 to over 1.5 million agents in 2023, agent networks have become the backbone of mobile money operations in Nigeria. For this reason, we are more likely to see a sharp increase in the number of mobile money agents and merchants. Apart from that, MMOs will increasingly use artificial intelligence to improve customer experiences, such as machine learning, predictive analytics, and fraud detection,” he said.
Donald Ubeh, Head, Risk and Compliance, MLRO at PalmPay, while highlighting the impact of fintech companies such as PalmPay, explained that the coming of PalmPay has led to economic empowerment particularly for individual users and several Small and Medium Scale enterprises.
He noted that many Nigerians including bank customers have migrated their funds to PalmPay owing to convenience and accessibility it provides.
He added that mobile money operators were conceived with the aim of driving financial inclusion for the underserved and unbanked population.
According to EFInA, increasing adoption of fintech companies by Nigerians has led to increase in financial inclusion rate by 13% in 13 years.
Moneipoint has denied reports that Moniepoint MFB, its microfinance bank, was hacked and some N1.1 billion allegedly stolen.
Moniepoint, in a blog post said that the report, which began on social media was malicious and misleading and should be ignored.
According to the company, the alleged theft gained traction on social media, alleging that the company is facing operational challenges due to the hack.
“We categorically state that these claims are untrue, and we urge the public to disregard them in their entirety.
Moniepoint MFB has always maintained the highest standards for digital security and customer fund protection.
It stated that as a duly authorised and licensed financial institution, customer deposits with Moniepoint MFB are insured by Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) supervising and regulating its operations to ensure adherence to all applicable standards.
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