Akinlabi Adegoke, chief digital officer of Lotus Bank, has said deeper collaboration between banks and telecommunications companies has become critical as mobile networks increasingly serve as the infrastructure powering digital financial services in Nigeria.
He said in an interview with BusinessDay that banks are turning to telcos because mobile connectivity is now the backbone of digital banking.
According to him, telcos provide the reach, scale, and real-time access that enable banks to serve customers everywhere, including areas where smartphone penetration and data availability remain inconsistent.
“Partnerships with telcos make faster onboarding possible, broaden distribution, and improve customer engagement. Ultimately, telcos provide the last-mile infrastructure needed to deliver secure, inclusive, always-on financial services,” he said.
Adegoke highlighted what he described as the strongest synergy between both industries, which is the combination of bank-grade security and telco-grade reach. “While banks specialise in secure transaction processing, telcos dominate connectivity, identity verification, and customer access.”
He believes jointly designed interoperable systems spanning payments, KYC, and customer support would deliver faster, more reliable, and seamless services for millions of users.
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He, however, noted that the growing dependence on mobile networks also requires banks to rethink resilience strategies.
Adegoke urged financial institutions to adopt a ‘resilience-first’ mindset, including multi-network redundancy, apps that perform well under low bandwidth, and ensuring that cards, ATMs, and alternative payment rails remain available during network disruptions.
He also emphasised the need for transparent customer communication and investment in offline-capable features to guarantee service continuity even during network instability.
While addressing the long-standing tensions around USSD pricing and telco control of the channel, Adegoke said banks must reduce vulnerability by diversifying low-cost digital access points, which include app-lite versions for feature phones, WhatsApp banking, agent networks, and card-led solutions.
“USSD should be retained for essential services, but the industry must accelerate the shift toward digital apps for simpler transactions. The long-term play is channel diversification, not channel elimination,” he noted.
Adegoke also warned that relying on telco systems for critical banking services introduces operational risks such as service interruptions, slow transaction processing, and limited visibility when issues arise.
To mitigate this, he called for stronger service-level agreements, joint monitoring systems, rapid escalation procedures, and well-defined response plans for outages. He said such coordinated efforts will ensure a more stable and predictable customer experience.
“Collaboration is no longer optional; it is the foundation of modern banking,” he stated.
