Flutterwaves risk manager for Africa

Flutterwave’s Head of Risk, Africa, Emmanuel Efenure, has said that despite the pandemic-driven growth recorded by the Fintech industry across Africa, there are still more opportunities for growth on the continent. He advocated innovative contactless services as an important way to break the dominance of cash in Africa and drive growth in the sector. This was while he was participating as a panelist at the eighth edition of the Nigerian Bankers Clearing System (NBCS) themed conference. Digital transformation and innovation in the payment system.

He said, “With a population of more than 200 million people trying to move around every day and implementing contactless payment would revolutionize the ecosystem starting first with the transport system. Without a doubt, most people will most likely appreciate alternative payment that does not involve exchanging money or words with the cashier”. He also talked about Flutterwave’s efforts to support small businesses by helping them receive payments globally through the Flutterwave Store.

NBCS is an annual conference that brings together players in the banking and finance industry across Nigeria to examine the changing dynamics of the central bank regulatory and payment system in Nigeria. The event held at the Civic Center on November 19, 2022 is organized by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as part of their efforts to engage the private sector. The keynote address was delivered by Samuel Okojere, the Director of Banking Services at the CBN, who highlighted the critical efforts made by the apex bank to resolve payment-related issues, and ensure a speedy clearing and settlement system.

Other panelists at the conference were Branch Controller, Central Bank of Nigeria, Bariboloka G. Koyor; Chief Conduct and Compliance Officer, Access Bank, Pattison Boleigha; Chief Information Security Officer, First Bank of Nigeria, Harrison Nnaji and Group Head of Business Operations, NIBSS, Ekeoma Chidi-Ugorji– represented Tauhid Abdulkareem in a dignified manner.

During the panel session, Chika Okeke – the moderator asked questions about initiatives, trends and systems that would be the next big thing when introduced in the payment system in Nigeria.

In response, Emmanuel Efenure noted that cash-based transactions still dominate the Nigerian payment ecosystem, but pointed to the emerging potential of digital payment innovations such as tokenization.

“By replacing card details with information that becomes useless to non-cardholders and hackers, tokenization is a key initiative that can reduce the risk of fraud and help gain consumer trust,” he said.

Responding to the moderator’s comment about adopting e-check and including USSD while maintaining the security of funds. Harrison Nnaji warned that e-check is not a mass market solution.

“The bulk of USSD transactions across the country are usually below NGN 20,000. There are even transactions as low as NGN 200. On the other hand, checks are mostly for large transactions as high as NGN 10,000,000. There is no way you would be able to do such a transaction and not afford a smartphone that would help you do seamless digital payments with multi-factor authorization,” he added.

Bariboloka G. Koyor spoke on the role of the CBN in strengthening payments in Nigeria, “The central bank is passionate about payment systems and innovation in Nigeria. The separation of banking services into two different departments focusing on banking services and payment systems was a starting point. The regulatory sandbox is a other major initiative. We are underway in our quest to regulate and provide the platform for our payment system to thrive and for consumers to be safe and secure in the ecosystem.’

Tahuid Abdul-Kareem reiterated the importance of digital transformation for NIBSS “Digital transformation is customer centric because it is the use of technology to drive our services and systems towards providing better, seamless and efficient payment services to our customers. It involves continuous iteration and improvement of services we roll out for Nigerians in terms of payments, identification and security.

The event concluded with all participants highlighting opportunities for growth in the payments sector across Africa in general, and in Nigeria in particular.