Between 2015 and 2020, Nigeria’s payment system received around $500 million in investments due to increased level of confidence.
This was disclosed by Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele while speaking at the bank’s 31st seminar for financial correspondents and business editors in Enugu State, themed, ‘Trends in Nigeria payments system: regulating the fintech digital playing field’
Emefiele admitted that in the past few years, the sector has experienced incredible growth which the apex bank hopes to continue to support in terms of regulation and customer protection.
What the CBN Governor is saying
The CBN Governor, whose speech was delivered by Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Edward Adamu, said that the payment system plays a vital role in the economy.
He said, “The high level of confidence in our payment system, between 2015 and 2020, has attracted the investment of about $500m in firms run by Nigerian founders.
“Studies have already shown that only 1% of fintechs have been critically affected by COVID-19 and 2% severely affected. By comparison, around 17 per cent of other high-growth companies fall into these categories. It is therefore unsurprising that many fintechs have experienced a surge in demand as working practices and customer banking habits changed.
“As a country with one of the largest millennial population in the world – an estimated 62 per cent of the Nigerian population below 25 years of age, fast smartphone growth driven by increasing affordability and increasing mobile penetration and fast transition to 5G technology – Nigeria remains primed to be an active playground for digital transformation and cannot afford to ignore.”
The CBN Governor indicated that significant changes in the financial industry environment will dominate the post-COVID-19 economy, and that the faster shift towards digital financial services would draw more fintech investments.
This, he argued would improve financial market competition, but he added that it would necessitate more and thorough regulatory oversight.
