Acting Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Mary Uduk, has disclosed that the Commission will use fintech to actualise Nigeria’s financial inclusion bid.
Uduk said by investing in technology, it will be easier for people to invest in the fintech sector.
Speaking in Lagos during the 19th annual conference of the Risk Managers Association of Nigeria with the theme, ‘Economic recovery: Leveraging technology innovation,’ Uduk noted how the fintech space is growing very fast. According to her, it is important to adopt the changes technology is bringing into the system.
The SEC boss, who was represented at the event by the Head of Risk Management, Okey Umeano, said,
“We have started to spend money to learn how we can use technology to make things more efficient in the sector and facilitate investment for all those who are interested in investing in the stock market.
“If our country will compete with other countries in the world, we must put the right regulation in place.”
Challenges with fintech: In the meantime, Uduk identified some of the challenges facing fintechs which include -skills gap and inadequate capacity.
“Each of these new products is unique and has to be treated as such, and regulators have to be knowledgeable about it.”
Another challenge she mentioned is that the cost of technology acquisition which is quite on the high side. Similarly, maintenance and implementation could be both costly and difficult.
How SEC is addressing these challenges: According to Uduk, SEC created a market-wide fintech committee to draw a roadmap that would channel the efforts it was putting into fintech to get results.
Financial inclusion for unbanked Nigerians: This is, no doubt, the right time for Nigerians to get fully integrated into the financial inclusion system. Therefore, as more opportunities to actualising the agenda become readily available, all concerned stakeholders should take advantage of it.