The Managing Director and Chief executive officer of eMaginations,
the organizer of Ennovators Breakfast Series [EBS], Mr. Sola Fanawopo, has task
Nigerian banks to partner operatives in the Financial Technology (FinTech), reports ITRealms.
According to him, Nigeria is not an exception in the FinTech
upsurge, hence said the global investment in FinTech is reported to have reached
as high as $80 billion between 2010 and 2016.
Financial technology, he said, has gradually seeped into the
growth strategies of traditional banks, expert have expressed concern that the
two components would need to work together in order to drive financial
inclusion in the sector.
“For some time after the global and local financial crisis,
traditional banks have laid emphasis on regaining customers’ trust. I am happy
that banks have realised the potential of FinTech and are now slowly joining
the startups in the race. That is why it is heartening to know that a Nigerian
call itself FinTech bank” he said.
The basis for this concern,
Fanawopo said, is stemmed from the global best practices where Fintech, the
term coined for financial services technology, has become an extremely
fast-growing industry worldwide. Its growth has enabled banks in Europe and the
US to innovate and develop products to suit customers’ lifestyles.
He explained that in large part, FinTech firms are becoming
“disruptors” for good, and that the secret to maintaining the banking industry
is to nurture the startups through which new technology is birthed. To grow the
banking industry, he asked, “Should banks engage FinTechs for competitive
advantage, should banks build, partners or acquire FinTechs?”
According to him, bank chiefs and FinTech founders such as
Muhammad Jibrin, MD/CEO, of SunTrust Bank, Yele Okeremi, MD/CEO of Precise
Financial Systems, John Obaro, MD/CEO of
Systemspecs and Uzoma Dozie, Group MD/CEO, Diamond Bank, would join
other speakers at the Oriental Hotel, venue of EBS in March to examine how
banks and FinTech should relate. “This edition of EBS will examine if the banks
and FinTechs are friends or foes”, he said.
Fanawopo said EBS now in its seventh year is a quarterly
cerebral breakfast event conceived to bring the Dreamers, Drivers, and Doers
(3D) of technology business in ICT industry across Africa together with the
objective of sharing key information that would promote business, impact lives,
and birth new business relationships.
“As technology evolves, everything in the world is changing.
The way banks, telcos, insurers and others sectors service customers is
changing. This will continue to change as technology innovations emerge. EBS
examines the preparedness of African firms to meet these changes”.
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