- Firm Wants Collaboration For Mobile Banking
The Chief Executive Officer, Xpress Payment Solution, Mr. Oluwadare Owolabi, has said that it is relevant for stakeholders in the financial sector to collaborate in fast tracking the deployment of agency banking initiative across the nation.
He stated this while speaking on agency banking as a driver for financial inclusion, saying that the conventional banks, telecommunication companies, regulatory agencies and other stakeholders needed to work together to make financial inclusion stable.
Owolabi, who noted that agency banking did not pose any threat to existing banks, said that the banks were not interested in building branches again.
He said, “If you talk of employment opportunities, agency banking will create more jobs even at a faster pace. Different levels of agents will be deployed across various locations to serve consumers and address issues before, during or after any financial transaction.
“Agency banking is more or less an enabler for the conventional banking services, which means we cannot do it ourselves. This is because the banks only help to save money. And whatever transaction that takes place on our platform and has to go through the bank and the banks have to pay for the services that we render, we need the services of the telcos to be able to operate effectively.”
He explained that a typical example was the USSD services from the telcos, which were needed to send text messages and data across board.
He added that Xpress Payment Solution was poised to recruit 30,000 agents for agency banking within two years; 70,000 agents for its mid-term projection; and 100,000 agent in the next 10 years.
