AITEC Announces Speakers for Banking & Mobile Money West Africa Conference

Over 30 local and international speakers have confirmed their participation as speakers at this year's AITEC Banking & Mobile Money West Africa Conference, to be held at the Eko Hotel, Lagos over 13-14 March.

Announcing the impressive line-up, Sean Moroney, chairman of AITEC Africa, said that the programme achieves an ideal balance between local experience in innovative banking services and international best practice.

"The programme also strikes a balance between mainstream banking technology and systems and mobile money innovation. The conference has its roots in traditional banking technology but now also embraces the full range of banking channels, customer services and retail strategies, including mobile," said Moroney.

International speakers include Jerome van der Putt of SatADSL in Belgium, who will be making a showcase presentation on low-cost satellite communication services for financial institutions.

Miguel Bedier of Experian MicroAnalytics in the UAE will be encouraging mobile money operators to broaden the range of financial services they offer in order to accelerate the adoption of mobile money and help achieve the Central Bank of Nigeria's "Cashless Society" targets.

Cloud-based services are increasingly important for banks and this will be covered in one of the conference sessions, where Akan Jacobs of Converge GCT will make a lead presentation on "Using the cloud to optimise your business practice".

The session on core banking operations will have a lead presentation by Jerome Hoffman of Broadbridge Financial Solutions in the US: "Operational best practice - Maximising efficiency through process automation".

Another of the sessions will cover microfinance, with a lead presentation by Gregory Sheen from Liverpool John Moores University in the UK: "Are credit unions the MFI solution of the future? Lessons from the West for West Africa".

Mobile money will be under the spotlight in several sessions, with a range of top-flight presentations:  Brian Richardson, CEO of Wizzit, one of South Africa's more successful payment systems, will deliver an intriguing presentation entitled "Mobile Banking - The good, the bad and the ugly: Lessons from seven years and seven countries".

 One of Nigeria's mobile banking pioneers, Peter Asolo, CEO of Petvinia Global Concept, will examine solutions for the slow rate of mobile money penetration in Nigeria.

Chuma Ezirim, Group Head, eBusiness at First Bank, will provide an assessment of the bank's recent First Monie implementation. Chukwuma Igbogbahaka, CEO of ChoboBIG, will be asking: "Banking and mobile money - Quo vadis Nigeria?"

A former Nokia director, Peter Ollikainen, now Senior Vice-President of Mistral Mobile in Finland, will speak on "Consumer access to mobile financial services: A challenge or an opportunity for banks?

" This presentation will be supported by one based on local experience by Emmanuel Agha, President of Product Development at Innovectives: "Building an agency network: The tipping point for financial inclusion and mobile money take-off".

Mac Atasie, CEO of Nextzon Business Services, will also be examining agency banking, with an emphasis on the link with retailing: "Winning models in agency networks for emerging mobile money services: The future of retailing".

Gansirey Seck, West African Area Manager for Ingenico, will also speak on agency banking for financial inclusion.

Sola Bickersteth, CEO of Nigeria's One Network, a new player in agent network development, will speak on "From Automated Teller Machine (ATM) to Agent Teller Network (ATN): The imperative of co-opeting  for agents".

Akintunde Oyebode, Head of SME Banking at Stanbic IBTC Bank, will be encouraging a broader perspective beyond "pure" mobile money to include "real" financial services such as deposits, savings and lending.

Security aspects of mobile banking will be covered by Dr Jonathan Aremu, Consultant to the ECOWAS Common Investment Market programme, who will speak on "The importance of credit risk database development in mobile banking".

Obadare Peter Adewale, COO of Digital Encode in Nigeria, will speak on more general aspects mobile banking risk management. 'Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, will also speak on fighting cyber crime in Nigeria.
 
Barry Coetzee, CEO of iVeri in South Africa and one of Africa's financial transaction doyens, will be encouraging local innovations, solutions and services, with a presentation entitled "Why local is important for transactions".

Onajite Regha, Executive Director of the ePayment Association of Nigeria (EPPAN), will be taking a broader regional perspective, looking at "Creating market synergy in payment systems as a pivot for economic integration".

The following presentations will examine the technologies and systems needed for effective transactions, including interoperability:  "Mobile money: Technology options to create a winning strategy" by James Ogada, CEO of Expert Edge, Nigeria; "The role of a neutral clearing house in processing mobile financial transactions" by Ike Nnamani, CEO of Medallion Communications, Nigeria

Others are; "Boundless communication: Data exchange for cash services" by Kunle Oye-Ighemo, Solutions Architect for GS1 Nigeria and "Achieving mobile financial service platform interoperability" by Lanre Osibona, CEO of InnovaTechNG, Nigeria

The key issue of regulation will be covered by Simon Aderinlola, National Co-ordinating Consultant of WASPA Nigeria, who's presentation,

"Bridging the mobile banking regulator-regulated divide: The minefield & goldmine" will challenge both sides to think outside of the current regulatory box. The Central Bank of Nigeria has been invited to participate in the conference at a high level of engagement in order to use it as an opportunity to dialogue with the payments industry.
 
Another highlight of the conference will be a "Feedback Workshop" to be hosted by Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A), where current payments supported by donors and development agencies will be presented and industry players invited to critique then and provide feedback based on their practical experience.