E-PPAN’S 7TH Techno-Interactive Forum Focuses on Mobile Payment
The E-Payment Providers Association is set to host its regular quarterly Techno-Interactive Forum. This is the seventh edition and it shall focus on the theme “Mobile Payment and the changing Financial Landscape in Nigeria” It will hold by 9am on the 17th of May, 2011 at the Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Mobile usage has seen an explosive growth in most of the African countries. The rapid spread of mobile phones in Nigeria has seen mobile users already exceeding the number of banked people in the country. According to EFInA, 2010, 56.4 million Adults in Nigeria have access to a mobile phone and 32.3 million of them are unbanked. There are 49.2 million adults who own a mobile phone while 25.5 million of them are unbanked.
The implication of this is that using this channel for financial services may not only reduce the cost of financial transactions for provider and customer, but also allow new entrants to the financial sector, and new relationships to be formed for distributing services. This holds the prospect of accelerating access to financial services on the back of the mobile infrastructure.
Seeing these possibilities, the CBN recently gave “Approval in Principle” to 16 companies for mobile banking.
E-PPAN will be hosting an industry forum to share knowledge and bring further insights to how best we can create an enabling environment for the successful sustenance of mobile payment in Nigeria.
Discussions at the event will focus on how Nigeria can consciously provide a set of conditions which promote a sustainable trajectory of market development in such ways to promote socially desirable outcomes which will ensure that investments in mobile banking is adequately protected and consumers do not pay for uncertainties in the mobile payments environments.
These conditions are forged by larger macro-political and economic forces, as well as sector specific policies and laws. However, we shall focus on the power of policy makers and regulators to control and influence the environment with the collaborations of operators and all stakeholders.
In a new market sector like mobile banking, where business models are not yet stabilized, enablement in the policy and regulatory sector means a move towards greater certainty and greater openness.
Mobile banking offers the prospect of increasing efficiency of the payments system; and potentially, expanding access to financial services. However, market enablement requires managing these complex trade-offs within the business chain and the regulatory environment.
The extent to which mobile banking will in fact be transformational in Nigeria will therefore depend in large measure on whether the environment is enabling.
Confirmed discussants at the event are:
– Mr. A.S F Atoloye, Director, Banking & Payment Systems Department, Central Bank of Nigeria.
– Mr. Sylvester Ehikioya, Director, New Media & Information Security, Nigerian Communication Commission.
– Mrs. Ify Umenyi, Director General/ CEO, Consumer Protection Council.
– Mr. Chuma Ezirim, Head, Cards and Channels Management, First Bank Nigeria Plc
– Mr. Ike Nnamani, President, Medallion Communications Limited
– Mr. Emmanuel Okeagwale, Principal Associate, Mobile Money Africa.
Onajite Regha, the Executive Secretary/CEO will be presenting the discussion paper.