E-Financial
Experts Urge Banks to Invest in Data Authentication to Boost Financial Inclusion
Investing in data authentication and detection software by the banks and other financial institutions would lead to the expansion of loan database, improve services and boost financial inclusion.
Bade Adesemowo, Chief Technology Officer [CTO] of Social Lender, said that the company’s platform has the capacity to authenticate loan applicants’ data based on social reputation before authorization by the banks and financial institutions.
“Our solution is trained to detect fake data in most cases. As such, utilising and optimizing our innovative service will boost financial inclusion and bring more development to the financial sector. Our system is actually training itself – machine learning – based on data we have acquired to improve performance of transactions on the system”, he said.
According to him, Social Lender provides customers of financial institutions access to microcredit based on their social reputation in their community. The unbanked and under-banked with little or no access to formal credit can also benefit. He said the company focuses on social reputation on mobile, online and social communities.
The fintech expert stated that the platform was designed in such a way to provide loan applicants’ data on the social community to banks and other financial institutions irrespective of locations.
He said that there is a need to “close the huge financial exclusion gap” and expand the options for financial institutions in data gathering for loan applicants before authorization.
He informed that established global financial institutions use credit history, credit bureau data and credit scores to arrive at lending decisions.
“This is a challenge in Nigeria, as less than 10% of the adults have viable credit bureau data and in Africa less than 50% have this required data. Even in America, 20% of the adult population lack access to formal credit.
“That is a significantly smaller market size, but a market gap all the same. This is where Social Lender comes in. There’s a need for an alternative measure of trust for the huge population. This alternative scoring solution is Social Lender’s Social Reputation Score”.
Speaking in a similar vein, Product Owner of Social Lender, Mudi Ogboru said financial technology is a viable tool that has the capacity to reach the unbanked individuals in the country.
“Banks today are serving about 40 million unique individuals in a country of about 200 million unique individuals. Fintech stakeholders can collaborate and build a strong network to deliver financial services to over 100 million Nigerians who the banks are not serving”, he said.
The CEO of Social Lender, Faith Adesemowo informed that the company has collaborated with several fintech firms to create healthy competition in the industry, saying that the company is focusing on expansion to other countries to propagate financial literacy and inclusion.
Social Lender is a lending solution based on social reputation on mobile, online and social communities. The company helps financial institutions offer microcredit based on social reputation to individuals who are under-banked or have little or no access to formal credit.
The solution is designed to bridge the gap of immediate fund access for people with limited access to formal credit. Social Lender uses its own proprietary algorithm to perform a social audit of the users’ online, on mobile, on social media and other related platforms and gives a Social Reputation Score to each user.
“Loans are guaranteed by the user’s social profile and network allowing users to then borrow from banks and other financial institutions based on their social reputation”, she said.
The company is improving access to financial services across Africa using social reputation. Beyond lending, Social Lender has multiple use cases in various sectors including by not limited to the in other areas including but not limited to KYC, insurance and so on.
It is building a social network for trust, credit and much more. It has partnership agreement with three financial institutions in two countries through Sterling Bank (Nigeria), Absa / Barclays Bank (South Africa), and iTrust (Nigeria). It is considering similar initiative with four banks in two countries.
The CEO said the company is accessible on multiple channels which include SMS, USSD and Web. Recently, Social Lender launched a USSD only channel in Nigeria targeting low income communities.
Social lender is seeking to raise $1 million in equity or convertible note to expand staffing, implement and integrate more technology interfaces, expand its brand and marketing reach, and to expand into new markets and countries of operation.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has awarded the country’s second Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA) license to Unified Payments, Nigeria’s premier financial technology company, following a rigorous and transparent process,
The move is targeted at enforcing existing requirement that all transactions from point-of-sale channels in Nigeria must go through a licensed Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA).
The CBN is enforcing the laws to clamp down on financial crimes and other market misconducts and it aligns with the CBN’s objectives to fully track all electronic transactions in Nigeria, given the propensity of using such transactions to fund insecurity, violent crimes, banditry, kidnapping as well as other vices.
According to one analyst, “By awarding a second PTSA license, the apex bank has proactively responded to industry operators who had expressed serious concerns about channelling all transactions through a single aggregator, the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System PLC (NIBBS), as has been the case for some years.
“With the new policy direction, payments service providers would henceforth route all transactions through either of the two licensed Companies.”
Other financial analysts and industry players have commended the Central Bank, affirming that “the move can be a massive step in the right direction. They also commended the open, transparent, and inclusive manner via which the selection process was managed, and the license awarded.
“The selection process, which lasted for months, began with an invitation for qualified organisations within the payment industry to submit an Expression of Interest document, alongside other requisite documentation and additional capital requirement of N1 billion.”
The new management of CBN decided not to give the license out without going through an open process – and for the first time in licensing a payment service provider – the apex bank went through a public bid process outlined in its publication of Friday, January 5, 2024, in different national newspapers. At the end of the process, Unified Payments emerged as the most preferred service provider.
Unified Payment Services Limited, also called Unified Payments or UP, is a shared service provider within Nigeria’s financial technology sector owned by a consortium of Nigerian banks. For over 26 years, the firm has provided payment technology to banks and other industry operators. The first and only non-bank entity that is a principal member and licensed acquirer of all of American Express, Mastercard, Visa, UnionPay and Payattitude. Unified Payments facilitates both local and international transactions.
Formerly known as ValuCard Nigeria Plc, Unified Payments led the way to introduce POS payments in Nigeria under its card scheme known as ValuCard which is the first payment card to be issued in Nigeria. The company later transformed into a scheme-neutral and option-neutral service provider enabling transactions under different schemes.
The company has continued to provide leading payment technologies and services, enabling different operators to leverage its capabilities and licenses, enabling prompt and seamless transactions.
Among the shareholders of Unified Payments are First Bank, Access Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Zenith Bank and Fidelity Bank. Other shareholders are Citibank Nigeria Limited, Ecobank of Nigeria Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc, Keystone Bank Ltd, Polaris Bank Ltd, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc and Wema Bank Plc.
Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN, has expressed support for the ongoing banking recapitalization exercise saying it will empower banks to lend more to the economy.
CIBN President, Dr. Ken Opara stated this yesterday while speaking at the annual lecture of the institute in Lagos, with the theme “Improving Availability of Credit in the Nigerian Real Economy: The Critical Importance of Liquidity.”
Okpara noted that the volume of credit to the real sector activities namely agriculture, manufacturing and services is low compared to their critical role in driving economic growth.
Consequently, he called for more credit to the real sector, saying, “I propose that we consider offering more credit to these key sectors and particularly the agriculture sector. It is for this reason that the Recapitalization exercise is a welcome development.
“The recently announced upward review of the Minimum Capital Requirements of Nigeria by the Central Bank of Nigeria would further empower banks to extend more credit to the economy’s productive sectors.”
To address these factors impeding credit to the real sector, Okpara suggested that, “The government needs to improve further the ease of doing business and infrastructural development, such as power, roads, rail networks, etc.
“Setting up industrial centres where these companies can co-habit and share common infrastructure. Harmonize and reduce the various taxes and levies, including locating them in a single hub.
“Banks need to be deliberate in de-risking these companies via Capacity building programmes, and Advisory services.
Specialised Financial Institutions can be created in addition to the Bank of Industry (BOI), especially credit guarantee agencies and risk-sharing institutions, to further facilitate the deepening of credit as practiced in countries such as China which significantly transformed its economy.
A new report claims that 20 per cent of Nigerians are using Bitcoin to carry out financial transactions every day.
According to the open-source blockchain website, Elastos, the research was compiled from online interviews conducted with 1,407 self-defined ‘tech savvy’ respondents in Brazil, Germany, Nigeria, South Korea, UAE, the UK, and the US.
The interviews were completed by a third party, a registered market research company and completed between 30 March and 04 April ’24.
The report further revealed that 67 per cent of Nigerians would have more trust in Bitcoin to put their life savings than banks and local governments.
The report reads; “The inaugural BIT Index (Bitcoin; Innovation & Trust) – compiled from over 1,400 self-defined ‘tech savvy’ respondents from 7 countries across the globe – sheds light on the actual perception and use of Bitcoin in people’s daily lives, irrespective of its current valuation. Elastos’ BIT Index is part of ongoing research to better track the ‘real world’ use of Bitcoin together with users’ motivations, expectations and barriers around the same.
“In particular, the data reveals the role being played by emerging markets in terms of understanding, usage and confidence around Bitcoin. Nigerian respondents’ levels of usage and trust compare starkly with those expressed from so-called ‘established’ markets such as Germany and the UK and Germany where daily usage levels are just 8% (for German respondents) and (9% for their UK counterparts).
“In terms of the trust – in addition to Nigeria – significant proportions of respondents from Brazil (35 per cent) and the UAE (32 per cent) would have more confidence in Bitcoin-based services to protect their life savings compared to those from markets such as the UK (20 per cent) and Germany (22 per cent).
“When it comes to ensuring the integrity of online transactions, emerging market respondents also revealed their relative confidence in Bitcoin, compared to alternatives. According to the data, 66 per cent of Nigerian respondents and 35 per cent from Brazil have more confidence in Bitcoin-based systems than alternatives such as banks, or national Governments, compared to figures of just 16 per cent (Germany) and 21 per cent (UK) who feel the same.
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