The Nigeria Fintech Week(#NFW24) is back with an exciting announcement for its 2024 edition, set to take place from October 8 -10, 2024, at the prestigious Landmark Event Center in Lagos, Nigeria. Building on the success of last year’s event, which brought together over 8,600 financial and fintech executives from 30+ countries, #NFW24 aims to once again unite industry leaders, decision-makers, and innovators for a 3 day-long event. #NFW24 promises an exceptional line-up of sessions. Attendees can expect renowned keynote speakers, interactive panel debates, thought-provoking workshops, exclusive roundtable discussions, unique product pitches, exhibition stands, and ample networking opportunities. Organizers have officially opened registrations for the event. Interested participants can secure their spot by visiting the official website: www.nigeriafintechweek.org. Corporate brands are encouraged to seize the opportunity to participate in #NFW24. The event offers customized features such as product promotion, increased brand exposure, launching and showcasing cutting-edge technologies, faster customer acquisition, collaborative solution development, fostering business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) partnerships, as well as media engagement opportunities. As preparations for #NFW24 gains momentum, the organizing team is thrilled to announce an expanded range of topics, captivating speakers, and an even broader international presence. The event will provide the flexibility of both in-person attendance and virtual participation, ensuring a seamless experience for global participants. Don’t miss the opportunity to be part of this distinguished fintech event. Register now at https://nigeriafintechweek.org/. For sponsorship and partnership inquiries, please contact Seun at exec.sec@fintechng.org or call +2349030003013. Additional event details can be found at www.nigeriafintechweek.org.

Following recent engagements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Governing Council of FintechNGR, led by the President, Ade Bajomo, engaged with Dr Aminu Maida, Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and his management team. This meeting aimed to deepen the role of the telecommunications sector as a crucial enabler of fintech in Nigeria. The engagement addressed the critical issue of connectivity and investment in public infrastructure, emphasizing the need for improved connectivity to support essential services such as schools, airports, fire services, police stations, and parks, thereby enhancing timely emergency response. Ade Bajomo highlighted the inclusive nature of FintechNGR as a strength that regulators should leverage to develop robust policies and regulatory frameworks. He underscored the importance of harnessing Nigeria’s natural resources, particularly lithium, to power base stations and reduce operating costs for telecommunications players. “Leveraging alternative energy sources built on lithium batteries will greatly enhance connectivity, facilitate efficiency, and drive environmental sustainability,” said Bajomo. He proposed a public-private collaboration to develop these mineral resources. L-R: Dr Aminu Maida, EVC, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC and Ade Bajomo, President, Fintech Association of Nigeria during the Visit. Dr Aminu Maida responded by emphasizing the need for Nigeria to build internal capacity for creating mobile devices. He noted that approximately 57% of mobile phones in Nigeria still operate on 2G networks, which do not provide broadband speed for users, and that the Commission is working with the industry and other cross-sectors to advance user transition to newer technologies such as 5G. He stressed the importance of FintechNGR working with regulators to facilitate the maturity of fintechs through corporate governance empowerment, training, and mentorship. Dr. Maida also highlighted the need for a coordinated approach to combating fraud and cybersecurity threats in the financial sector. “Deepening partnerships between fintechs, financial services providers, and the telecoms sector through collaboration will significantly strengthen innovation in Nigeria,” he said. The NCC noted that it will work with FintechNGR to enrich the activities of the Regulators Forum—a forum of regulators and innovators in Nigeria that aims to balance regulation and innovation—to facilitate a more impactful Nigeria Fintech Week and leverage the Association as a valuable resource in future regulatory and policy development initiatives.

In light of recent developments aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s fintech sector, Ade Bajomo, President of FintechNGR, led a team from the Association’s Governing Council in an engagement with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to chart the way forward. Receiving the team at the CBN headquarters in Abuja, Philip Ikeazor, Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, commended FintechNGR’s active advocacy efforts that have significantly improved the fintech ecosystem. The Central Bank emphasized the need for the Association to work closely with stakeholders to operate within regulatory provisions, facilitate compliance, and establish robust risk management frameworks and governance structures. Mr. Ikeazor stated, “The Central Bank understands the critical roles of fintechs in driving financial inclusion to the last mile. Our efforts are geared towards helping fintechs become more attractive to investors and achieve greater success.” L-R: Ade Bajomo, President, FintechNGR, Philip Ikeazor, Deputy Governor, FSS, CBN & Dr Rakiya Yusuf, Deputy Director, CBN during the engagement at CBN Headquarters, Abuja on June 19, 2024. During the meeting, Ade Bajomo noted that while stakeholders strive to comply with regulatory requirements, they sometimes face challenges beyond their control. He stated, “The common understanding within our ecosystem is that compliance makes the environment safer for all to innovate, scale, and collaborate. FintechNGR will ensure the co-creation of a support structure with the CBN to enhance compliance.” Some of the initiatives the regulators plan to pursue with the ecosystem include making the 2024 Nigeria Fintech Week more impactful, enriching the activities of the Regulators Forum, organizing fintech learning series for various stakeholders, and exploring self-regulation status for FintechNGR to foster closer relationships with regulators. FintechNGR remains committed to working with all regulators to better position the ecosystem to be more inclusive and impactful.

In a bid to deepen its impacts on the policy landscape and make innovation more entrenched in Nigeria, FintechNGR has partnered with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to develop a Fintech Adoption Roadmap Policy for the Insurance Sector, a feat it achieved in 2019 when it collaborated with SEC to develop The Fintech Adoption Roadmap Policy in the Capital Market Similarly, FintechNGR is partnering with Galaxy Backbone, an agency of the Federal Government in charge of Satellite, Cloud and ICT management to develop a Nigerian Domestic Cloud initiative that will domesticate cloud businesses in Nigeria. The inauguration of the Insurance Roadmap Committee by Mr Sunday Thomas, the Insurance Commissioner, is a significant step towards driving digital transformation in the insurance sector. According to Mr Thomas ‘the policy will further help the sector to leverage technology to enhance transparency, speed, and efficiency in insurance services, ultimately making insurance more accessible and affordable in the overall interest of driving financial inclusion’. According to Dr Stanley Jacob, Vice President of FintechNGR,  ‘the policy will drive digital presence, and aid insurance penetration’. His comments highlight the potential impact of the policy in expanding market opportunities and increasing the accessibility of insurance services. In addition, the Galaxy Backbone initiative would promote indigenous cloud services, develop cloud adoption frameworks, and make cloud infrastructure available to startups and Nigerians at affordable rates. It is also worthy to note that FintechNGR also has collaborations with other cloud providers such as AWS, Huawei and Rack Center. These two initiatives aim to drive innovation in the financial services sector and help Nigerians harness data, access array of opportunities, make insurance and emerging technologies more attractive. Overall, the projects are a further testament to FintechNGR’s commitment to driving innovation and collaboration within the ecosystem, with a focus on leveraging technology to enhance efficiency and accessibility. It also attests to the openness of the Regulators to deepening innovation as they create balanced policies.     About FintechNGR: FintechNGR is the premier national fintech association in Africa, dedicated to accelerating fintech growth, connecting stakeholders, and advocating for the adoption of regulatory supports and reforms. With a diverse membership base spanning various sector. FintechNGR aims to foster an innovation-driven environment and make Nigeria one of the world’s leading markets for fintech innovation and investment. For inquiries and further information, please contact: Name: Seun Folorunso Title: Head. Projects & Relationships Email: exec.sec@fintechng.org Phone: +2349030003013