Business
CBN Highlights Benefits Of Cashless Policy For MSMEs
The Central Bank of Nigeria and other stakeholders in the financial services sector recently shared their views on the importance of implementing a robust cashless policy system in the country.
The discussion took place at a virtual event organized by the CEO/Managing Director of First Central Credit Bureau, Mr. Deji Olamide, with the theme, “Harnessing the Benefits of Cashless Policy on Credit Allocation in a Developing Nation.”
During the discussion, the Director of Banking Supervision at CBN, Haruna Bala Mustapha, emphasized that the aim of the cashless policy was never to eliminate cash but to reduce its usage and encourage electronic payments using electronic channels.
He pointed out that Nigeria, despite being largely a cash economy, is facing numerous challenges due to the many vices arising from cash-based transactions.
Maintaining cash, he said, has become a burden, and as such, the cashless policy was introduced to encourage transparency, ease of doing business, and access to loans for Medium, Small, and Micro-scale Enterprises (MSMEs).
Mustapha further highlighted the benefits of the cashless policy, including faster and easier payment, the ability to perform online transactions from the comfort of one’s home, cost-saving, increased transparency and accountability, and access to borrowers’ credit history.
He acknowledged that Nigeria still lacks the necessary infrastructure to ensure seamless integration of digital payments, but the CBN is working with payment solution providers to improve the payment gateway to cope with the increased volume.
Mr. Ade Bajomo, the President of FinTech Association of Nigeria, added that a cashless policy has the potential to revolutionize credit allocation in developing nations.
By creating a digital trail, reducing the cost of credit assessment, providing greater transparency, making it easier to assess creditworthiness, improving credit scoring speed and open loan processing, risk management, promoting financial inclusion, individuals and MSMEs can access credit, and drive economic growth, improve the standard of living, and the role of credit bureaus.
The Head of Personal Banking at First Bank Nigeria, Mr. Ikemefula Nwachukwu, explained that the CBN’s open banking framework has leveled the playing field for data access which is expected to impact the calculations of credit scores for lending agencies.
He added that predictive analytics enables lenders to project the probability of the propensity of the customer to repay the loan and take corrective steps for the customer to repay loans.
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has projected that the country has the potential to achieve a 5.5% growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) if critical policy reforms are sustained.
This was disclosed on Thursday during the launch of the NESG’s 2025 Macroeconomic Outlook report.
Speaking at the event, the Chief Economist and Director of Research & Development at NESG, Dr. Olusegun Omisakin, highlighted the need for more efficient policy implementation to unlock Nigeria’s economic potential.
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“We believe at the optimal level, if we embark on more efficient policy reforms, the Nigerian economy has the potential, the GDP to end up at 5.5 per cent, and we believe that this is achievable,” Omisakin stated.
More to follow……….
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced the release of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange (FX) Code, a set of guidelines designed to promote ethical conduct among authorized dealers in the country’s FX market.
In a statement, the apex bank disclosed that the official launch of the Code would take place on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, at the CBN Head Office Auditorium in Abuja.
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“The Central Bank of Nigeria has approved the release of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange (FX) Code as a guideline to the banking industry to promote the ethical conduct of authorised dealers in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market,” the statement read.
The introduction of the FX Code is expected to enhance transparency, accountability, and professionalism within Nigeria’s foreign exchange ecosystem, aligning it with global best practices.
The event is anticipated to attract key stakeholders in the financial and banking sectors, as well as representatives from authorized FX-dealing institutions across the country.
The 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump attracted up 3 trillion dollars in investments into the country’s economy in his first full day at work.
This was gleaned from the verified handle of the POTUS on micro-blogging site, X, on Wednesday.
Biztellers reports that the POTUS is focused ensuring at least $1 trillion investment daily for the first seven days of his return to the White House, which would be driven by key clearly identified areas, including artificial intelligence.
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President Trump wrote, “In total, before the end of my first full business day in Washington and the White House, we’ve already secured nearly $3 trillion of new investments in the United States.
“And probably, that’s going to be six or seven by the end of the week.”
In a short video clip accompanying the statement, President Trump assured that the surge in investments would likely hit $7 trillion within his first seven days as the 47th POTUS.
He highlighted that artificial intelligence had proven to be an area lots of willing entrepreneurs had shown much appetite for.
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