By Kester Omu
As part of effort to achieve the goal of financial inclusion in Nigeria, some Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) have partnered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to expand shared agent network across the country.
The target, according to the Managing Director, Access Bank Plc, who is the chairman of the body of Bank Chief Executive Officers, Mr Herbert Wigwe, is to reach 500,000 agent network that would offer basic financial services to Nigerians.
Wigwe believes that, apart from providing financial services to the citizens, the partnership would also help to create over 500,000 new jobs over the next two years.
“We are looking at a situation where this agreement with the apex bank would covers such services that will be rendered to an estimated 50 million Nigerians, who are currently under banked or unbanked,” he said.
The services would include: cash-in, cash-out, funds transfer, bill payment, airtime purchase, government disbursements, as well as remote enrollment on BMS infrastructure for Bank Verification Number.
He added that the agreement is a reflection of the Deposit Money Banks’ commitment to aggressively pursue the CBN 2020 Financial inclusion target in an integrated way with minimal systemic risk to the financial system.
Other plans in the agreement include rolling out new initiatives, products and services to accelerate and deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria over the next few months. This will also help Nigerian banks to onboard and formally bank 60 million additional Nigerians, an average of 20 million yearly, as well as enroll 40 million Nigerians for BVN.