Financial Inclusion is a key driver of economic development. Indeed, the more people included, the more they have access to financial services that will ultimately improve their leaving conditions and gradually get out of poverty.
Achieving universal access to financial services requires pervasive and sustainable Agent Networks across the nation. Many studies have revealed the importance of Agent Networks in driving access to financial services, especially at the last mile. Nigeria currently has about 22 Deposit Money Banks, over 800 Microfinance Banks, 25 Mobile Money Operators, yet, 36.6 million adults (36.8% of the total adult population) remain financially excluded.
The National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) identified Agent Networks as one of the important channels required to achieve the Financial Inclusion target. Going by the shift from physical bank branches to branchless banking globally, the revised NFIS strategy considers increasing the Agent target from 62 to 476 Agents per 100,000 adults by 2020. As such, there is a need to build the capacity of the stakeholders to achieve this target. It is estimated that at least 500,000 Agents should be available to serve about 105 million adult population in Nigeria by the year 2020.
Anup Singh; Domain Lead and Manager, Microsave Consulting, Ronke Kuye; CEO, SANEF Limited, Esaie Diei; CEO, EFInA, Degbola Abudu, CEO, Capricorn Digital Limited and Titilola Shogaolu; Divisional CEO, Interswitch Financial Inclusion Services Limited at the 2days training of EFInA Agent Networks Providers in Lagos on the 6th & 7th March, 2019.
In pursuit of EFInA’s goal to provide capacity building for financial services stakeholders to drive the increased deployment of pervasive agent networks across Nigeria, and at the end grow Financial Inclusion Agenda, EFInA hosted a 2-day intensive training for Financial Services Providers on “Essentials for Deploying Sustainable Agent Networks in Nigeria”.
Participants were senior executives from Deposit Money Banks, Microfinance Banks, Mobile Money Operators, Super Agents, Telcos, Fintech Companies and Regulators. The main objective of the training is to create a platform for key financial services stakeholders to understand in practical terms how to drive the increase of widespread and sustainable agent networks across Nigeria. The training provided insights into the following areas:
- Agency banking strategy development at the organisational level
- Channel development
- Product development for agency banking
- Agent network management
- Risk and Fraud Management
- Consumer protection and retention
- Lessons learned from other markets
EFInA remains committed to collaborating with the industry stakeholders through the provision of credible market information (Research), Capacity Building, Advocacy and Fund innovation geared towards enhancing financial inclusion in Nigeria. For more information, visit here
