The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed banks to raise the quality of their products and services to attract more people into the financial system.
CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, disclosed this at the release of the 2023 EFInA Access to Finance (A2F) Survey results in Lagos.
He said: “As an ecosystem, we must redouble our efforts to develop innovative solutions to enable inclusion and be intentional about how we do it.
For instance, the access points effective for included populations might not be suitable for those currently excluded. The products and services that we have developed to get us this far will need refinement to ensure that they are fit for purpose for the next phase of this journey.”
According to him, the Nigerian financial system has evolved with significant improvements in size and depth, especially in the areas of market development, products, instruments, and payment infrastructure, among other things, thus, reinforcing the need for us as regulators and stakeholders to constantly keep pace with these emerging developments in a sustainable manner.
Cardoso, who was represented by, CBN Director, Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department, Chibuike Nwagerue, lauded all financial inclusion stakeholders for the efforts made and the progress achieved.
“However, to achieve the target of 95 percent financial inclusion, we must all move from collaboration to concrete commitment. To that effect, I call on all Financial Inclusion implementation agencies to set up specific functions or units dedicated to financial inclusion in their various organizations. This we believe, will provide the necessary ownership and commitment required to achieve our collective goal,” he said.