The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has called on policymakers and capital market stakeholders to leverage technology to expand access to financial services and deepen financial inclusion.
The Director-General of SEC, Mr Lamido Yuguda, said this at
the 2021 Capital Market Correspondents Association of Nigeria(CAMCAN) workshop
held in Lagos at the weekend.
Yuguda said that technology would continue to play a
critical role in expanding access to affordable financial services.
Yuguda, who was
represented by the Executive Commissioner, Operations, Mr Temidayo Obisan, said
aside expanding access to affordable financial services, it also provides cost
effective means of reaching the untapped market, especially in the rural areas.
According to him, there are over 191 million and 140 million
active mobile subscribers and active data subscribers in Nigeria as at October
3, 2021.
Yuguda stressed he need for participants in the market to
leverage technology to close the huge financial inclusion gap that currently
exist in tha market and bring the unbanked into the financial space.
He pointed out that closing this gap would help reduce the
cost of providing financial transactions as it involves little or no
infrastructure cost and offers the highest outreach.
“Leveraging technology to offer financial service has
advantage over traditional means because it breaks down geographical
constraints.
“It also simplifies the means of serving existing customers
for example through the use of mobile banking agents to perform banking
transactions.
“Financial institutions are increasingly using electronic
channels to onboard clients and address customers queries and bring financial
product offerings to the prospective users,” he said.
On measures adopted so far by the commission to boost
financial inclusion in Nigeria, Yuguda said SEC is currently working with the
Fund Managers Association of Nigeria ( FMAN) to accelerate financial inclusion
to collective investment schemes.
He added said the commission is proposing a hackathon
challenge to help develop a comprehensive suite of mobile internet-based
services targeted at having an end-to-end processes of the entire capital
market.
Abbas, said there was a need for an active collaboration of
all market stakeholders to help drive the initiative.
According to him, adoption of technology can help open up
the capital market and bridge the gap of the unbanked which has created room
for the proliferation of unregistered outlets that have continued to swindle
investors of their resources in the market.
He said: “Average age of participation in capital market is
53 years where as the power is in the youths. We need to bring these youths to
play on the capital market.
“We need market infrastructure to drive this initiative and
some tools to help onboard people in the rural areas. We have these
requirements, it is the starting point,” Abbas said.
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