Managing Director/ CEO, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Mr. Segun Agbaje, has stated that Nigeria’s economy may be in a difficult period, but with digitalization at the core of the national banking strategy, financial inclusion has been given room to grow.
Agbaje made the statement at a World Finance conference in Lagos.
“There are so many people in Africa that are outside the banking system, for you to be part of organised society, financial inclusion is a must.” Agbaje said.
“Slowly, but surely, financial inclusion in Africa is improving. In fact, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN predicts that, by 2020, the number of adult Nigerians with access to payment services will increase to around 70 percent. It’s not as superfast as we would like it to be, but there are marked improvements, and this is steadily increasing.
“Just 10 years ago, data on financial inclusion was hard to come by. Now we know just how much better we must do in order to expand access to financial services. Access to savings, credit, insurance and pensions is also growing rapidly.
“Encouraging as these projections are, we know that there’s a lot more to be done. This is why, at GTBank, we are keen to leverage digital technology to expand the reach of our products and services. Mobile has become very, very big and we have begun to see people doing a lot using their mobile phones.”
