By Martin Ekpeke
Financial experts have advised financial institutions in Nigeria to innovate and collaborate in the impending technology disruption, where banking services is gradually tilted towards Financial Technology.
The experts, who gathered in Lagos at a 2-day Disruptive Innovation Conference, organized by Interswitch, a pioneer and major player in the FinTech space, noted that what Fintech would possibly revolutionise the banking industry, leaving the transaction banks to struggle.
For Mitchel Elegbe, the Chief Executive Officer of Interswitch, the banking sector is hugely challenged by the presence of innovative, disruptive technology, what the banks need is to reposition and collaborate for effective service delivery. “We chose disruptive innovation as the focus of this year’s Disruptive Innovation Conference because so much has been disrupted by technology and there is a need for synergy among various players that have similar goals. We believe that collaboration between banks and Fintech is the way forward, with each of them leveraging their respective strengths and minimising their weaknesses,” he said.
Also, in his keynote address, Brett King advised the banking sector to be prepared to embrace the disruptive innovation that would come with artificial intelligence, given that banking transactions have moved from Bank 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, to 4.0. He advised banks to adapt to the changes through collaboration with FinTech, or lose their bank customers to FinTech players that are already creating apps that enhance banking transactions.
Meanwhile, the Founder of CWG Plc, Austin Okere, who spoke on regulation as an aftermath of the emergence of FinTech, noted that the world is tilting towards digital currency, a situation where banks will no longer be custodian of physical cash, and this call for a new regulatory framework that will enable FinTech thrive in the financial sector.
Technology has thrown up a lot of challenges for the banking sector as customer’s taste and lifestyles have changed, thereby looking for convenient and easy ways to make banking transaction. Bank’s customers are shifting from the physical banks and opting for banking services using their their mobile devices, enabled by apps designed and developed by FinTechs.
