Embracing fintech key to boosting financial inclusion – SEC

Embracing fintech has been identified as critical to Nigeria’s aspiration of deepening the capital market and attracting more young people to the market.

Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Lamido Yuguda, who stated this during the Supernews Nigeria Fintech Conference held in Lagos described fintech as a game changer in deepening the capital market and enhancing financial inclusion.

Represented by Director Registration, Exchanges, Market Infrastructure and Innovation of the SEC, Mr. Abdulkadir Abbas, Yuguda noted that the theme ‘Imperative of Fintech in Promoting Financial Inclusion in Nigeria, was very apt as transformation in the capital market is incomplete without fintech.

He said “We can see a kind of game changer and rapid transformation in the financial sector due to fintech. It is a building block for enhancing financial inclusion.

“Traditional means can no longer work, the average age of investors in the capital market is 45-50 years and we are currently trying to attract the millennials to the market and this can be achieved with the aid of fintech.

“We are exploring ways to leverage on fintech to bring on the young people to the market. The capital market sees fintech as an opportunity and that is one of the ways we intend to change the dynamics of the capital market.

According to Abbas, it was in view of the importance of fintech that the capital market initiated the fintech roadmap which enabled the SEC to come up with innovations and rules to support the initiative.

He said, “We need innovation to deepen and broaden the market and we had to come up with rules to support it like the rules on crowdfunding among others.

“We all saw the success achieved with the electronic offering by MTN, a lot of Nigerians were able to subscribe with their phones and other gadgets conveniently. We realised that one of the ways to unlock investment opportunities is through fintech and we are stepping up such strategies to deepen the market”.

Abbas, however, expressed the need to strike a balance between investor protection and innovation adding that financial inclusion cannot be achieved with it a good strategy for financial literacy.

Abbas expressed the readiness of the SEC to collaborate with other regulators and stakeholders in the quest to attract more investors to the capital market and grow the economy.

In her remarks, Publisher/CEO of Supernews Nigeria, Mrs Ngozi Onyeakusi said the conference centres on Fintech and Financial Inclusion holds a great potential for the Nigerian economy and for the financial stability of the country.

According to Onyeakusi, the emergence of Covid-19 no doubt projected the need for adoption of fintech in daily activities and businesses but not without its attendant challenges.

Onyeakusi disclosed that her organization chose the theme as a way of contributing its quota to the financial inclusion drive of the federal government.

“This conference centres on fintech and financial inclusion which holds a great potential for the Nigerian economy and for the financial stability of the country,” she said.

“It is a learning opportunity designed to enhance awareness, deepen understanding of participants in the role of fintech in rendering banking, capital market, insurance and pension services cheaper, faster and conveniently”.