Jibrin Abubakar
29 February 2008
An assessment of the Nigerian financial services system has shown remarkable improvements in size and sophistication with technology as the chief driver of growth.
Areas that were noted to have been significantly transformed by technology include electronic funds transfers, real time gross settlement, automated clearing, direct debits, cards and Automated Teller Machines, Point of Sale (POS) Machines as well as Internet and mobile banking services.
Delivering a paper titled, "Technology - Finding the Right Fit for the West African Treasury at the first EuroFinance Conference on Treasury, Risk and Cash Management in West Africa, Director, Global and Transactions Banking, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mrs. Angela Nwabuoku in a review of the value chain of the financial services market observed the permeation of technology and its impact on the way activities are performed.
Quoting a report from Interswitch, West Africa's Electronic payments solution provider, Mrs. Nwabuoku said ATM transactions in Nigeria has grown from 25million in August 2007 to well over 40 million six months after, in January 2008. Total cards volume, she said grew from 15 million to nearly 20 million while web transactions grew from 60,000 to 100,000 over the same period.
"Technology is creating linkages between activities, enabling better coordination and control," she said, adding that the developments has transformed the role of the treasurer, especially in the areas of cash management, cash flow optimization, liquidity management, cross-border sweeps and financing.
Treasurers in West Africa, she said are currently challenged by a number of global and regional regulatory and market developments chief of which include the absence of a unified payment area for the West African subregion, contrary to what obtains in Europe where they have the Single European Payments Area (SEPA); Absence of connectivity between banks and the corporate world; centralised treasury administration; slow pace of regional integration and the adoption of a common West African currency, among others.
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