Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan has said the biggest growth opportunities in digital financial inclusion lies in the ability to combine the mobile phone, cards and agency banking services in the most cost effective and convenient way to reach the citizenry on a sustainable basis.
Akinwuntan, who made this submission at the Ecobank-Vanguard Digital Financial Inclusion virtual summit in Lagos on Tuesday explained that bank branches and ATM channels are cost intensive to scale and less attractive to mass market financial service providers. He said agency banking, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), mobile app, card services, including internet banking and chat bots remain optimum channels for digital financial inclusion.
The Ecobank Managing Director explained that digital financial inclusion entails deployment of cost saving digital means to reach financially excluded and underserved population with a range of financial services suitable to their needs and delivered at affordable cost, noting that it offers lots of benefits to all players in the value chain and also engenders wealth creation, drives economic growth and sustainable development.
In his presentation, Chief Executive Officer, 9mobile, Alan Sinfield, said though the telecom operators are playing a vital role in financial inclusion of unbanked and underbanked, collaboration and partnership of all stakeholders was key to increase the volume of digital transactions and mobile money activities. He lauded CBN for grantinglicenses to 3 Payment Service Banks (PSBs).