BANKING & PAYMENT TECHNOLOGIES WEST AFRICA, 2009: FirstBank sponsors Branchless Banking Initiative

The Branchless Banking campaign is being headed by a new Nigerian organisation, Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA), supported by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the MSME Project, which is a joint pilot of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the World Bank, and the global microfinance body CGAP.

With the theme, “Transforming Access to Finance Through Branchless Banking, the conference will highlight technologies used by pioneering organizations in the financial services industry, including microfinance organizations, to reduce costs and reach new customers.

Announcing FirstBank’s support for the conference, CEO Lamido Sanusi said the event has a vital role to play in educating the financial services sector on new business strategies and technologies to be deployed in extending affordable banking services to the mass of the population who remain unbanked. Sanusi is chairman of the EFInA board and is a strong advocate of financial inclusion, driving FirstBank’s commitment to bank the unbanked.

“I want to congratulate the organisers of this conference for providing an unprecedented level of expertise in the speaker line-up to inform and educate Nigeria’s banking community. FirstBank is proud to be associated with this initiative and will be participating actively in order to gain the unique knowledge that is available in the three-day conference programme,” said Sanusi.

Over 40 local and international experts will be making presentations in the conference of 400 delegate, covering a wide range of banking technologies and strategies. Highlights of the programme include:

• James Olekah, Director of Banking Operations in the Central Bank of Nigeria

• Modupe Ladipo, CEO of EFInA Nigeria

• Jennifer Isern, Africa Director of the Consultative Group for Advancing the Poor (CGAP), USA

• Alice Zanza, a specialist in the World Bank’s Payments Department

• Brian Richardson, CEO of Wizzit, South Africa’s mobile banking pioneer

• Pia Roman, Head, Inclusive Finance Advocacy, Central Bank of the Philippines

• Abiodun Ogunlabi, Mobile Money Programme Manager at MTN Nigeria

• Kyari Bukar, CEO of ValuCard, Nigeria

• Lauren Reese, IS Fund Manager at CGAP

• Mitchell Elegbe, MD of Interswitch

• Edna Ishaya, Executive Chairman of AdanaMamaki, Nigeria

• Simon Akinteye, MD of Integrated MFB, Nigeria

• Niyi Elumaro, CEO, Moneybox, Nigeria

• David Cracknell, Africa Programme Director, Microsave, Kenya

• Michèle Scanlon, Principal Consultant, Green Giraffe, South Africa

Mobile banking will be a major focus of the conference. Sean Moroney, Chairman of AITEC Africa, the organisers of the event, has predicted that Nigeria’s mobile banking market is going to explode over the next two years. “This is going to have a huge impact on the economy and it crucial for the banks and the mobile operators to work in close consultation with the Central Bank to establish the right regulatory framework to facilitate orderly growth and provide customers the level of security they need to trust mobile banking.”

One of the keynote conference speakers is Dr Raghavan Kunigahalli, Senior Vice-President & CTO of SBA Technologies in the USA, who is an expert on mobile banking security.