The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan, has disclosed that the bank is leveraging technology to push the frontiers of financial inclusion of the unbanked and under-banked in the country.
The managing director said this in his keynote presentation at the Vanguard Economic Forum series on mobile money market and fintech.
The forum with the theme, ‘Leveraging Fintech Innovation for Unlocking Growth and Competitiveness in Nigeria’s Mobile & Payment Ecosystem’ held in Lagos.
He pointed out that Nigeria, which has improved financial inclusion from 47 per cent to 63 per cent in the last decade, remains a dynamic market with a lot of opportunities for digital financial expansion.
He stated that Ecobank had built an ecosystem that leverages digital technology to bring affordable, easy and convenient financial services to the people and businesses.
According to him, Ecobank is currently pushing EcobankPay, Xpress Agency Points and other digital platforms as key solutions to address the rapid shift to mobile payment and the adoption of digital channels across the country.
He described EcobankPay as a “a lifestyle scan and pay digital payment and collection service which accepts payments from other platforms – mVisa, Masterpass and mCash. Payment can be made with any phone by scanning the QR code or using USSD at merchant locations.
“It’s unique offering is its interoperability, that is, all bank customers in Nigeria can pay through their accounts in other banks. It is free to set up, as the shop owner only needs his/her QR code and phone for notifications to start receiving quick and easy payments. Merchant QR can also be set up via Facebook Messenger as well as USSD payment for low-income phone users.”
He noted that EcobankPay “is currently available at over 90,000 merchant locations across the country. This is in addition to over 6,000 Xpress point agent locations in the country. Also, we have over eight million mobile banking subscribers across the Ecobank Group. Our Ecobank Mobile App is unique, as it is one universal app available in 33 countries where we operate in Africa.”
