London City's Mayor, Charles Bowman was in Lagos to discuss possible collaborations in fintech, here are the highlights

Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA), Nigeria’s leading financial sector development organization and CcHub, hosted a FinTech Roundtable session with the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Charles Bowman; Financial sector regulators and financial technology (FinTech) companies and other stakeholders on Wednesday, June 27, 2018.

As part of its mission to promote financial inclusion in Nigeria, EFInA desires to improve the existing infrastructure in the financial sector so that FinTechs can play an increasing role in the efficient delivery of financial services to the un(der)banked in Nigeria.

Segun Akerele, EFInA Board Chair, while giving the welcome address, emphasized the importance of the company’s partnership with the Department for International Development (DFID) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation while identifying foreign collaborations and regulatory principles that can catalyze and accelerate local growth in the financial service sector.

Furthermore, he stated that the difficulties associated with access to financial services has led to a large population of unbanked adults and encouraged FinTechs and financial service providers to develop more innovative financial inclusive products. He also appealed to regulators to take lessons from the United Kingdom’s regulatory principles.

Speaking at the event, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Charles Bowman, highlighted the need to promote bilateral ties between Nigeria and the United Kingdom and also establish a business of trust between the two countries.

“This roundtable session will help to work out different modes of collaboration, provide reassurance for Nigeria as an international FinTech hub of the future, and also identifying the opportunities for growth in our countries. In addition, we intend to build on this opportunity to support and promote innovation in financial and professional services,” said the Lord Mayor.

During a presentation on ‘Financial Inclusion, The Regulatory Landscape and Opportunities for FinTechs to promote Financial Inclusion in Nigeria’, the Electronic Payment Specialist for EFInA, Folasade Agbejule, said “EFInA’s mission is to spur growth in the financial development sector by providing grants to financial services operators through the Innovation Fund. EFInA targets the economically deprived population by sharing risks with Financial Service Providers (FSPs) through its Technical Assistance Grant and the Innovation Grant subsidies to the amount of $250,000 and $2,000,000 respectively."

Tunji Elesho, Managing Partner, CcHub Growth Capital Fund commenced the roundtable discussion saying “Our goal today is to explore the immense opportunities for growth in Nigeria’s FinTech ecosystem and that way, allow users improve their lives and take control of their financial situation”.

Riby and Flutterwave identified Scale, Funding and current Regulations in the financial sector as some of the current challenges when the Lord Mayor asked about factors hindering growth in the Fintech ecosystem.

Tunde Kehinde, Co-Founder of Lidya, focusing on the need for strategic partnership, explained that more projects in the financial development sector would help the growing rate of FinTechs in Nigeria as he also raised the importance for collaborations between financial technology companies, telecommunication service providers, banks, government and other stakeholders in Nigeria.

The event ended with closing remarks from Bunmi Lawson a director of EFInA and former MD of ACCION Microfinance Bank and encouraged all stakeholders to work closely for the greater good of the country’s economy.

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