FinTechNGR Partners EMTECH to Offer CBN Regulatory Sandbox

Emma Okonji

Fintech Association of Nigeria (FinTechNGR), yesterday at the closing of its 2023 Fintech Week, which commenced on Tuesday this week in Lagos, made a major announcement about its partnership with EMTECH to offer the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Regulatory Sandbox to all members of the association, free of charge.

EMTECH is CBN’s technical partner on the CBN Regulatory Sandbox that offers the advanced on-boarding process for startups and firms to gain access to the CBN Regulatory Sandbox.     

Chief Operating Officer (COO) at FinTechNGR, Dr. Babatunde Obrimah, who announced it, said the partnership would enable FinTechNGR to offer all its registered members, access to the CBN Regulatory Sandbox free of charge. According to him, members can have free access to the CBN Sandbox, navigate through it and take advantage of the regulated online tools to develop technology solutions that will address various needs in the financial sector.

The CBN Regulatory Sandbox is an online platform that allows startups and firms to conduct live tests on new innovative products, services, delivery channels or business models in a controlled environment with regulatory oversight. The platform provides all the necessary tools to support and facilitate innovation within the Nigerian financial space.

Executive Director, Africa at EMTECH, Mr. Tunji Odumuboni, who spoke about the importance of CBN Sandbox to startups in the Fintech space, said the platform would allow Fintech players to develop technology solutions across different segments of the financial services sector like payments, savings and investments, among others, in a regulated environment.

“As the technical partner to CBN, we are happy to partner FinTechNGR to offer its members the opportunity to use the in-built tools in the CBN Sandbox to develop technology solutions in the financial technology space. We therefore invite all members of the FinTechNGR to take advantage of the opportunities that the partnership offers,” Odumuboni said.

Some of the topics discussed on Day-Three of the Fintech Week, include: Scaling Digital Talents for Global Competition; Leveraging Insurtech for Inclusion and Empowerment; The Impact of Effective Marketing on Business;  Championing the Future of Mobile-First Payments for Businesses; Digitalising Agricultural Value Chain; How Fintech is Revolutionising Transportation and Logistics Sector; Leveraging Emerging Technology in Health Sector, among others.      

At a panel session moderated by Adedamola Oloko from AXA Mansard, which featured Partner, Banwo & Ighodalo, Ayodele Adeyemi-Faboya; CEO, HealthCap, Dr. Ola Brown; CEO, Wella Health, Dr. Ikpeme Neto; CEO, Clafiya, Jennie Nwokoye; and CEO, Afri-Health, Dr. Linda Obi, the panelists discussed the impact of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain Technology on healthcare and how telemedicine is driving access to healthcare services in both urban and rural communities. They spoke on several used cases of how medical doctors are leveraging AI to diagnose patients and how medical doctors relied on data from Blockchain in addressing decentralised Financing (DeFi) in the health sector.  The panelists were of the view that telemedicine has helped medical doctors in reaching out to their patients in far and remote areas. They stressed the need for government support in key infrastructure deployment that would enhance the healthcare sector.  

Highlight of the Fintech Week is the raffle draw, where winners emerged and were given Huawei smartphones and a 15 per cent and 50 per cent discounted flight tickets to travel on the KLM flight to any part of Europe. Huawei smartphone was also awarded to the most active participant in the 2023 Fintech Week.

In his closing remarks, Obrimah thanked participants of the 2023 Fintech Week for their active participation. He also thanked the sponsors and partners, including the team from FinTechNGR that helped in organising the successful 2023 Fintech Week.

Obrimah, who assured participants and partners of a bigger 2024 Fintech week, also announced October 29-31 as the date for the next Fintech Week in Lagos.