Aitec Conference Heralds Branchless Banking in Country

The year’s Aitec Banking & Payment Technologies West Africa Conference will be held at Muson Centre, Lagos over 4th - 7th  May, with the overall theme: “Serving the Customer Through Payment Technologies.”
Also as part of the above, the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) project, which is a joint pilot of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the World Bank, Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA), supported by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), are organising a conference over 4th - 5th May themed: “Transforming Access to Finance Through Branchless Banking.”
MSME project, EFInA and CGAP want to use the conference, which would be attended by over 300 delegates, as a platform to educate microfinance institutions, banks, telecommunication operators, policymakers and regulators regarding rapidly evolving banking technologies, including mobile banking, that open exciting new opportunities to provide low-cost banking services to the population currently excluded from financial services.
Announcing the conference, Modupe Ladipo, CEO of EFInA, said: “One of EFInA’s key objectives is to promote innovation in the development and deployment of financial services, and this conference will help spread knowledge regarding the huge potential there is to transform Nigeria’s financial sector at a time when it is urgent to draw more capital into the formal financial sector in creative ways. Working with our partners to create this event, we also want to draw together organisations and individuals working in the financial services sector throughout the country, to encourage collaboration, develop partnerships and exchange ideas to promote creativity in this rapidly evolving sector.”
“I have just returned from a two-week visit to Lagos and Abuja and am pleased to report that there is strong and growing industry support for Banking & Payment Technologies West Africa, partly fired by the anticipated launch of several new mobile banking services in the Nigerian market,” said Sean Moroney, chairman, Aitec Africa.
“We are delighted to have as part of the conference a major focus on ‘Transforming Access to Finance through Branchless Banking,’ hosted by a consortium of development partners working on payment innovations: Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA), supported by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the MSME Project which is a joint pilot of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the World Bank, and the global microfinance body CGAP.”
Moroney disclosed that major players in the local and international financial services and technology market have confirmed their support for the event.
 “We have SBA Technologies of the USA as Gold sponsor, following their highly successful participation in our East African conference last month, also as Gold sponsor; Medallion Communications of Nigeria , MoneyBox of Nigeria , Electra Card Services from India and Probanx from Cyprus. Qatar Airways will be hosting the VIP lounge in the exhibition, providing a networking facility for conference speakers, exhibitors and their guests. iWay Africa is the Internet sponsor for the event; and showcase presentation sponsors include Adobe, Clickatell, Dizengoff, iVeri, NIRPH and Pic Solutions,” he added.
MSME, EFInA, CGAP and Aitec Africa have invited experts from throughout Africa and beyond to share their knowledge and experience in the conference. Joe DiVanna, a leading banking analyst and consultant from the UK will be the conference chairman and will also do a keynote presentation on the second day on shared services. His message will be that banks and financial institutions need to share infrastructure and other services in order to reduce costs and deliver improved and low-cost services to customers.
The event will include an exhibition which will provide suppliers and developers of financial service technologies and innovations a platform to showcase their products. The exhibition is now over 80% sold out, and the organizers have advised prospective exhibitors to book urgently in order to avoid missing out.