E-Financial
Adequate, Credible ID Management will Foster Access to Credit – Heritage Bank Boss
Mr Ifie Sekibo, managing director /ceo, Heritage Bank has stressed the need for the federal government to work towards creating a credible and strong identity management towards expanding access to credit in the country.
Sekibo noted that while the Bank Verification Number (BVN) has been able to create a form of identification in the country, it has not been able to address some of the issues around identity management in the country.
Speaking at the 2019 Annual Conference of Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) at the weekend, the Heritage Bank MD noted that the ability of individuals to relocate from one place to another without notifying anyone was a major issue in access to credit.
Sekibo, represented by Mr Segun Akanji, divisional head, Strategy and Business Solutions said the dearth of effective and standard identity management infrastructure made access to credit for the SMEs in Nigeria tough as banks only see unmitigated risks.
“I am talking about identity management challenge. That is the biggest collateral to lending and that is what is missing in this economy.
“The day banks can verify where you live, everybody will get loan with ease, because you cannot run away,” he stated.
He further explained that “the problem is that, I don’t know where you live.
“The address of the company is not where you live. And you can wake up in FESTAC today, but tomorrow you move to Ajangbadi or Victoria Island. You don’t have to tell me. And that is a huge problem for banks.
“People take loan from banks and change accommodation, run away to Ibadan and you cannot find them.
“That must change. But how do you do that? It is very simple. You lose all the benefits that is allocated to you as a person, the day you relocate like that; you are as good as dead.
“Like when you live abroad, once you misbehave with your identity, you cannot bank, your credit goes bad, you cannot go to hospital and everything else goes bad and you cannot do anything. So, you have a responsibility to yourself and the country that supports you to report yourself.
“There is no value in our identity management as we have it. So, it is not just about banks, it is about the holistic structure where there is no value to the person that each of us will represent.”
He gave instances about developed economies such as the US where if one changes accommodation, they must notify all relevant institutions that they deal with because of the inherent value in the system.
“Just like they do abroad, when you are changing accommodation, you will be the one going to your bank, hospital, everywhere, you will dedicate a day in a week until you go around to everyone and inform them of the address change,” he said.
“Why? There is value to where you live. That’s where your mail, pension, cheque comes. Everything attached to you comes to that address. So, there is value. We need to get to that and then no one will need collateral to get some minimum amount to do business.”
Sekibo also observed that although the banks had pushed the government to some form of identity management system through the bank verification number, BVN, it has not been enough to solve the problem of the identity constraining lending in the country.
“You can argue that the banks have driven the government to some identity management system through the BVN, but the problem is that the infrastructure that will keep everybody in the homes where they live and not just change is non-existent,” he said.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) has said that it has strengthened the security of transactions on its mobile application to stop fraudulent debits, unauthorised transfers and withdrawals.
Oliver Alawuba, Group Managing Director and CEO of United Bank for Africa
UBA announced this in a memo forwarded to its customers via email recently.
“We are pleased to inform you that we have further strengthened the security of transactions on the Mobile App.
“Updated authentication options now apply based on the value of transfers,” the memo reads in part.
UBA said in the memo that it had introduced authentication options for transactions of varying amounts to detect and prevent fraud.
According to the bank, transactions of N200,000 or more will now require customers to provide their Personal Identification Number (PIN) and a token number.
For transactions above N200,000 and N250,000, customers will be required to provide their PIN and a One-Time Password (OTP).
They can make use of their PIN and Biometric or PIN and Token numbers to authenticate such transactions.
Customers will be required to provide a PIN and OTP, or a PIN and Token number, when carrying out transactions between N250,000 and N500,000
For transactions between N500,000 and N10 million, customers must enter their PIN and Token to authenticate the transaction.
For transactions above N10 million, customers must use their PIN, Token, and Biometric to complete the transaction.
“The app will guide you, no need to memorise these thresholds,” the bank assured customers in the memo.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has said that it will be launching a new payment systems vision that will outline where the entire ecosystem is expected to be heading in the next three years.
Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria
The vision was co-created with the financial technology players, the mobile money operators, payment service providers across the board.
This was announced by Muhammad Abdullahi, deputy governor, Economic Policy Directorate at the CBN, after the inaugural meeting of the Payment Service Providers Committee.
Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, inaugurated the first meeting of the Payment Service Providers Committee, to reinforce policy coordination, knowledge sharing, and also ensure collective problem-solving by the industry and by the central bank.
The committee is being chaired by Muhammad Abdullahi, CBN deputy Governor, Economic Policy, and co-chaired by Philip Ikeazor, deputy Governor, Financial System Stability Directorate.
Other members of the committee include stakeholders from all the key payment service providers that are licensed to operate in Nigeria as well as a number of regulators, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to Abdullahi, the committee is expected to convene on a quarterly basis to interface with players in the industry, to ensure that they collectively solve some of the challenges that are facing the industry.
“The committee is to put Nigeria on the best footing forward in terms of payment system space. As we already know, Nigeria is a world leader in payment service provision.
“The kind of technology and fintechs deployed in Nigeria are far ahead of regional and continental peers. And what we want to ensure over the next five to 10 years is that we continue to maintain this leadership and be able to do much more for the Nigerian economy,” he said.
He stated that setting up the committee had become relevant with the remarkable growth trajectory seen in the digital payment landscape in Nigeria.
“In 2024 alone, the system processed over 11.2 billion electronic transactions, amounting to over N1.07 quadrillion. This is the first time that digital payments crossed the quadrillion naira threshold, representing significant growth.
“The momentum has continued. In 2025, we’ve seen significant growth, and of course, in the first few months of 2026 as well. This is an ecosystem that is significantly growing, that has significant implications for growth in Nigeria, for inclusive growth, for trade, and other significant positives for our country, he said.
The Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability Directorate, and co-chair of the committee, explained that the inaugural meeting, featured discussions such as preliminary issues around how participation is going to be, what the top-line issues are, and some of the committees that would be set up eventually.
He said, “What we intend to do is to be able to solve this in a much faster way. So in the past, companies would have to wait a significant amount of time to interface or lay their concerns to the central bank, and the central bank would have to do supervisory visits—on-site, off-site—to be able to carry out its responsibilities.
“But today, now, we have a platform that brings us all together, that has committees that are working towards specific mandates that can advance the payment systems space, you know, payment service provider space. So what we really have now is that a major bottleneck has been removed, which is the bottleneck of coordination, collaboration, and joint systems thinking”.
On her part, Foyinsolami Akinjayeju, chief executive officer of Enhancing Financial Inclusion and Advancement (EFInA), said that the inaugural meeting of the Payment Services Providers Committee was to ensure that innovation was not stifled.
She said, “The Payment Services Providers Committee will more importantly, allow for inclusive and sustainable growth through access, expansion, strengthening of trust to ensure that no segments of our economy is left behind”.
Also, Premier Oiwoh, managing director and chief executive, Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), lauded the initiative describing it as historic and a win for all Nigerians.
For Jay Alabraba, chairman, Association of Licensed Mobile Payment Operators, the initiative is a good one which will help sustain the nation’s growth through active participation of industry stakeholders.
Ghana becomes the first African country to integrate payment into its Citizens’ Identity Card, ditching US-based payment giants Visa and Mastercard in Africa.
The card is now widely accepted in over 190 countries for online, in-store, and ATM use.
It allows for secure purchases, international payments, and offers perks like insurance and emergency assistance.
Ghana Card holders can activate their card using the MyCitizens App or by dialling *402#
Recall that Ghana’s National Identification Authority (NIA), statutory body mandated to establish a national identification system, first announced in September 2025, that the card would allow users to make use of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), make payments in stores and online, make international payments with over 200 countries, and access other services such as insurance and emergency assistance.
The NIA’s aim for developing this feature is to bolster financial inclusion within the country.
In Ghana, the credit card penetration rate was forecast at 0.6% in 2024 and was forecast to continuously decrease between 2024 and 2029.
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