Nigeria Content Online

Nigerians’ embrace
of a single debit card to carry out transactions both locally and
outside the country would go a long way in transforming Nigeria into a
cashless economy. This is in line with the quest by the Central Bank of
Nigeria to reduce the quantity of cash in circulation by 2020.

At the conference,
held yesterday in Lagos, officials of Mastercard, the franchisor, said
the new card, which would be available through the banks from next week,
will provide Nigerians news levels of global debit card acceptance
while greatly reducing their need to rely on cash for everyday
purchases.

“We are aligning
with the Central Bank’s desire to reduce cash carried by individuals in
2020. The MasterCard /Interswitch alliance comes at a time when the
Central Bank of Nigeria is laying significant emphasis on its Financial
System Strategy 2020 (FSS 2020),” Charles Ifedi, director, payment
solutions and business expansion, Interswitch, said at the launch.

According to him,
the FSS 2020 seeks to advance the efficiency of the country’s e-payment
systems by reducing the reliance on cash and promoting interoperability
among financial institutions, an objective which would be realised by
the use of the new card.

Banking in recent
times has been undergoing radical transformation. Some obvious changes
like new products and service channels emerge daily. This transformation
is taking place across all aspects of the banking industry.

“Information
technology (IT) is one of the major issues banks have to deal with, as
it is more evident that only the banks that have and use their technical
resources effectively will be able to have a real competitive advantage
in this fast changing industry. IT in banks is used mainly for
improving business processes and reducing turnaround time,” Charles
Idem, a research analyst at Ciuci Consulting, a management consulting
firm, said.

According to him, Nigerian banks have to pay close attention to customer service processes and consid­er ways to improve them.

“They need to move
quickly with the new trends in technol­ogy that eliminate some of the
routine tasks. This will provide employees more time to deal with
customers. To avoid mediocre implementation of IT initiatives, solutions
need to be integrated or aligned with the bank’s overall strategy,” he
said, adding that Daniel Monehin, area head, East and West Africa and
Indian Ocean Islands, MasterCard Worldwide, said cardholders will have
the ability to use a single card for domestic and international
transacting.

“The MasterCard
Verve cobranded debit card is fully Nigerian and fully international.
The new debit card will also give cardholders peace of mind as it will
provide them with a secure and efficient way of using their debit card
for daily purchases and accessing their cash at over 12,000 point of
sale locations, 400 online merchants, and at 10000 ATMs throughout
Nigeria,” he added.