FSI Pledges to Enhance Financial Inclusion

Hamid Ayodeji
The Financial Services Innovators (FSI) has expressed its commitment towards deepening financial inclusion in the country.
This, the FSI stated it would achieve by providing safe, innovative payment and identity solutions in order to prevent fraudulent activities within the banking space.

The company stated this recently, during its maiden Hackaton competition which took place in various regions of the country.
It disclosed that the initiative was created from the idea of people being able to identify an individual with unique identifier whenever and wherever they want to transact.

This, the organisers explained would enhance the level of trust when consumers are transacting with their bank, merchant, or a third party service provider.

The Chairman, Financial Services Innovators, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, while speaking with journalists during the programme with the theme, “How would you innovate payment and identity systems to prevent fraud and keep people safe with payments,” said the firm was prepared to make payment processes much more seamless and simplified in order to make it inclusive for everyone.

According to him, one of the goals of the company was to ensure Nigeria emerges as the financial technology service provider of the world. This, he said could be achieved by leveraging on the infrastructure and financial institutions that we have.
Aboyeji added: “Also, we have awarded the team that emerged winner with the sum of N3 million; then the second place N2 million and then the third place team with N1 million respectively.

“In addition to this, we are going to be providing mentorship schemes in order to support them upscale innovation and solutions.
“We are also working towards engaging the regulators in order to help them understand the practical challenges innovators and customers are facing when it comes to financial inclusion in order for them to generate and implement policies that would drive financial inclusion.”

On her part, the Head of Innovation, Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access, Dayo Ademola said, “This initiative would help bring thousands of hackers from around the world together in order to tackle a particular identified problem around identity and payment transactions.
“The Hackathon initiative is important because it helps the financial sector to mine ideas from broader scope of people because solutions can come from anywhere.

“By tackling identity issues we are able to develop products and services that are safer for people at the bottom of the financial pyramid and mass market are enabled to engage in the payment infrastructure.”