Interswitch Supports Digital Financial Service Innovation, Sponsors CeBIH 2021 Retreat

Africa’s leading integrated payments and digital commerce company, Interswitch, has been confirmed as a sponsor of the 2021 Annual Committee of e-Business Industry Heads (CeBIH) Retreat for the fifth consecutive year.

The digital payment company has been an ardent supporter of the Committee and its objectives, underpinned by a shared objective of enabling further development of the digital payments ecosystem in Nigeria.

This sponsorship highlights the digital payment giant’s interest in fostering deeper collaboration between banks and fintechs within the industry ecosystem.

This year’s sponsorship will be the fifth in the last six years. Following the committee’s announcement of this year’s retreat, Interswitch has been confirmed as a gold sponsor of the retreat.

The CeBIH retreat is a platform through which the committee examines key innovations in payment industry over the past year and discuss insights and trend for the coming year. This year’s retreat is slated to hold on December 2 and 3, 2021 in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The 2021 Annual CeBIH Retreat tagged, ‘Innovative Digital Banking’ will focus on issues around the growth of digital payments in Nigeria and how technological innovations such as digital currencies, blockchain, 5G network, contactless payments, among others, will dominate the payment industry in the coming years.

Interswitch as a key industry stakeholder will be instrumental in spearheading these discussions, especially with its recent efforts around the blockchain technology and other solutions around contactless payments.

Recall that Interswitch recently partnered Interstellar to develop blockchain-powered infrastructure services and solutions, one of which is a Pan-African Payment Ecosystem (PAPE) powered by a private permissioned blockchain network which includes a consortium of Banks and Fintech players.

Speaking on the forthcoming retreat, Akeem Lawal, Managing Director for Transaction Switching & Payment Processing at Interswitch reiterated the importance of Interswitch’s participation in industry events such as the CeBIH Retreat, where critical issues, trends and analysis around the payment ecosystem are discussed.

He described the retreat as a necessity for industry players to assess the current state of things and make calculable projections for the future, with the aim to improve and deepen Nigeria’s payment system.

“This retreat remains important for stakeholders in the payment industry and offers an opportunity for Interswitch to be introspective about the steps taken to improve the payment system in Nigeria and in Africa as a whole,” Lawal said.

“We at Interswitch remain committed to supporting and participating at platforms that share our vision to drive greater financial inclusion and prosperity across Nigeria and the Africa continent.

“Platforms such as the CeBIH annual retreat provide Interswitch and other industry players the impetus to engage with key stakeholders and collaborators from the banking system with a view towards improving our offerings to our customers viz-a-viz market demands, global trends and insights from the operating environment.”

The CeBIH Retreat, now in its ninth year, attracts key stakeholders from the various sectors in Nigeria’s payment industry, serving as an avenue for dialogue among industry players.

Interswitch has been a major sponsor of the Committee and its retreat since 2016. This underscores the firm’s commitment to the advancement of the payment technology industry in Nigeria, while providing seamless access to digital financial services for a greater proportion of Nigeria’s teeming population.