First Bank Pledges to Partner Fintechs

By Ugo Aliogo

First Bank of Nigeria Limited has restated its desire to continue to partner financial technology companies (fintechs) in the country to improve its technology banking.

Speaking at the 2018 First Bank of Nigeria, 3-day Fintech Summit with the theme: ‘The future of banking – the role of AI and big data,” the Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Ibunkun Awosika, stated that the bank had been reinvented.

Awosika, noted that there was need to create a future that would be sustainable.

Earlier in his remarks, the Managing Director, FBN, Dr. Adeshola Adeduntan, noted that the FirstBank Fintech Summit commenced with a two-day hackathon on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big data at the FirstBank Digital Lab.

He stated that the aim of the event was to come up with new ways to apply artificial intelligence to banking operations and practices.

Adeduntan who was represented at the event by the Deputy Managing Director, FBN, Gbenga Shobo, added that to remain competitive, banks must make the most of the disruptive change.

The FBN MD explained that presently, some actors use the new technology so enthusiastically that it’s hard to keep up, whilst others are still channelling too much investment in old systems.

“But technologies like artificial intelligence and big data technology need to become part and parcel of our business models across the board,” noted Adeduntan.

Continuing, Awosika added: “There is need to create a bridge that links what you know and what we know together to create a new door for the future that is what we are building. It is about creating the right room where all these things are done by the right generation of people.

“Our digital lab is setup to be the bridge between the people and the knowledge that is emanating daily. The digital lab is the place we explore the things we know; with the things you are making up. Statistics globally show that the youthful population is the population right now. We should be concerned about how they live, what they do and how they think. We should foresee the future, before they see it.”