Information Technology (IT) stakeholders and players in the financial services sector have decided to collaborate in a bid to boost the capabilities of digital banking in Nigeria.
Temenos, a global banking software company, HID, an American manufacturer of secure identity solutions and Inlaks, a leading system integrator in Sub-Saharan Africa, all partnered with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on a recently held forum to highlight how digital banking technology is reshaping the financial services industry.
The forum provided insights on various market trends and advances both locally and globally.
Presenting a keynote address at the forum with the theme “Banking in the Digital Age”, Adedeji Adesemoye, deputy director, other financial institutions supervision (OFIS) department, CBN, identified fundamental approaches that banks can use to enhance their digital capabilities.
Adesemoye itemized financial inclusion and digitisation as a means that can foster innovation across products, business models and allow straight-through processing that can automate and digitize a number of repetitive, low-value, and low-risk processes. He further stressed that the need for banks to have a vision of their future, technology, infrastructure and a well-defined corporate culture are major factors that determine whether a bank is successful in this age.
In a similar vein, Nehal Batavia, head of sales – Microfinance & Saas (Africa), Temenos, shared that Temenos has been providing innovative solutions to financial institutions worldwide for 25years.
Batavia stated that over 3,000 financial institutions use Temenos software, and among those are 41 of the top 50 banks in the world. He further shared that over 500 million end-customers rely on Temenos software in over 150 countries of the world.
Batavia said at the event that Temenos also provides innovative software solutions to banks of all sizes, “all around the world, helping them to thrive in the digital banking age”.
Adeyemi Ademiluyi, cyber security manager stated that there was no way that the issue of cybersecurity could be left unattended to when discussing banking in the digital age.
Ademiluyi said, “There are opportunities in this digital era, but there are also real threats in digital banking and it is important that organisations stay safe. Every day, attacks are launched at digital companies and these attacks are becoming more sophisticated. The ‘cyber thieves’ are becoming more creative and innovative in their approach. Organisations spend thousands and millions of dollars trying to put in place security software and infrastructure to limit these threats. We have been helping our clients to stay safe using multiple steps which will keep them ahead of cyber thieves.”
Tope Dare, executive director, sales & strategy (infrastructure business division), stated that the company had partnered with credible companies, like Temenos and HID to provide a security infrastructure that can help digital banking platforms mitigate the problem of cyber theft.
Ondrej Valent, senior sales manager financial services EMEA from HID Global, in his presentation on, “Overcoming the Data Sharing Challenge”, highlighted how HID is turning products into solutions by offering maximum strategic value of their customer’s investments. The company provides consultation through industry leading experts to enable end-to-end solutions, providing integration assistance on larger scale projects and also deployment assistance and training to give customers the tools to work with.
JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON
