Banking
Akinwuntan Enumerates Opportunities in Digital Financial Inclusion
By Ahmed Rahma
The Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Patrick Akinwuntan, has listed the opportunities in digital financial inclusion at the Ecobank-Vanguard Digital Financial Inclusion virtual summit in Lagos last Tuesday.
The bank chief, who also championed partnerships among operators, stated that “the biggest growth opportunities in digital financial inclusion lies in the ability to combine the mobile phone, cards and agency banking services in the most cost-effective and convenient way to reach the citizenry on a sustainable basis.”
He further explained that bank branches and ATM channels are cost-intensive to scale and less attractive to mass market financial service providers and agency banking, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), mobile app, card services, including internet banking as chatbots remain optimum channels for digital financial inclusion.
In his observation, the Nigerian financial inclusion trend has improved significantly with the exclusion rate declining by 15.7 per cent between 2008 and 2018.
Still speaking, Mr Akinwuntan mentioned that digital financial inclusion entails deployment of cost-saving digital means to reach financially excluded and underserved population with a range of financial services suitable to their needs and delivered at affordable cost, noting that it offers lots of benefits to all players in the value chain and also engenders wealth creation, drives economic growth and sustainable development.
“There is sustained growth in digital financial inclusion and it is largely driven by customer changing demands; the entrance of non-traditional players such as Fintechs, Payment Service Banks (PSBs); mobile services penetration and enabling regulatory environment.
“With the introduction of mobile wallet Tier 1 accounts accessible with a phone number, agency banking, micro-lending, mobile BVN, micro-insurance, cashless policy and others we should now begin to move from poverty alleviation to wealth creation for the citizenry.
“Further partnership and collaboration of all stakeholders remain critical to delivering further growth in digital financial inclusion.
“Ecobank has been committed to driving digital financial inclusion through her pan Africa network advantage, award-winning capabilities and various flagship products and services. We collaborate with Fintechs in Africa, as we are present across 33 countries in Africa.
“If you wish to bring your innovation into the financial system, you can reach out to us and we will guide you through the required regulatory requirements and then integrate your innovation into our digital payments and financial system,” he stated.
Although the telecom operators are playing a vital role in financial inclusion of unbanked and underbanked, collaboration and partnership of all stakeholders was key to increase the volume of digital transactions and mobile money activities, said the Chief Executive Officer, 9mobile, Mr Alan Sinfield.
Mr Sinfield commended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for granting licenses to three PSBs, stating that they will further help to drive financial inclusion and critically stimulate savings and investment as more liquidity is mobilized from the informal sector to the mainstream financial system that will translate to increased economic activities.
He said, “Telcom operators in Nigeria have a customer advantage that financial institutions could benefit from to deepen their penetration. Banking started before telecommunication, but there are more active mobile lines than active bank accounts in Nigeria. A very key indication that we can achieve more through collaboration.”
Also speaking, the Director of Payment System Management at CBN, Mr Jimoh Musa, declared that financial inclusion was at the heart of the apex bank as it has been playing an active role through the strategy is for the whole economy, stressing that the CBN is interested in the progress of financial inclusion in Nigeria.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The six edition of the Hackaholics of Wema Bank Plc has produced 20 top finalists shared equally between two streams, Ideathon and Hackathon.
The Hackathon finalists are Rapid DEV, Secure IT, Neurafeed, Trust Lock Babcock, Pulse Track, IlluminiTrust, Trust Lock FUTA, Fix Fraud AI, KASH Flow and VOC AI.
The Ideathon finalists include PLOY, Fertitude, VarsityScape, Mama ALERT, StockMed, Chao, All Arbitrate, FarmSlate, Sane AI and Cycle X.
They emerged after a two-day pre-pitch held on December 16 and 17, 2025, for the grand finale slated for Friday, December 19, 2025.
They grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0 will convene the top players in Africa’s tech and innovation ecosystem, creating an avenue for these finalists to not only put their creativity to the ultimate test but also give their solutions visibility to potential investors for additional funding opportunities beyond the prizes to be won.
The prizes to be won for the Ideathon include N25 million for the winner, N20 million for the first runner-up, N15 million for the second runner-up and N5 million each for two women-led teams.
In the Hackathon category, the first to fourth-place winners will receive N20 million, N15 million, N10 million and N5 million, respectively.
The pre-pitch saw the top 43 contenders battle in a game of innovation and problem solving, presenting compelling pitches for a chance to make it to top 10 in their respective streams.
After a rigorous stretch of pitches and presentations, the top 20 emerged, securing their spot in the grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0.
“Hackaholics started off as a hackathon and morphed into an ideation. For Hackaholics 6.0, the sixth edition, we decided to give both the builders of new solutions and the refiners of existing ones, an opportunity to make meaningful impact.
“For us at Wema Bank, we understand that innovation isn’t just building from scratch. Sometimes, it’s looking at what exists and developing new ways to optimise that and create more efficiency. This is the idea behind our two-stream Ideathon-Hackathon structure.
“Every year, Hackaholics shows us just how eager and motivated Nigerian youth are when it comes to exploring creativity and innovation, and we are honoured to be the institution that provides them with the platform and resources to put this drive to good use.
“We toured seven cities, indulged 1,460 participants and discovered hundreds of remarkable ideas; some of which needed some refining and some of which deserved to move to the next stage.
“For those who needed to go back to the drawing board, we provided useful guidance and for the top contenders, we were able to shortlist to the top 43, who proceeded to the pre-pitch. To every participant, Wema Bank is proud of you. This is just the beginning,” the chief executive of Wema Bank, Mr Moruf Oseni, said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it will enforce penalties against designated banks that delay the remittance of customs revenue, in a move aimed at strengthening transparency and safeguarding government earnings.
This was disclosed in a statement on the NCS official account on X, formerly known as Twitter and signed by its spokesman, Mr Abdullahi Maiwada, who said the delays undermine the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“The Nigeria Customs Service has noted instances of delayed remittance of customs revenue by some designated banks following reconciliation of collections processed through the B’odogwu platform,” the statement read.
“Such delays constitute a breach of remittance obligations and negatively impact the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“In line with the provisions of the Service Level Agreement executed between the Nigeria Customs Service and designated banks, the Service hereby notifies stakeholders of the commencement of enforcement actions against banks found to be in default of agreed remittance timelines.”
Mr Maiwada disclosed that any bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed timeline will be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the period of the delay.
He added that affected banks would be formally notified of the delayed amounts, the applicable penalty, and the deadline for settlement.
“Accordingly, any designated bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed period shall be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the duration of the delay.
“Affected banks will receive formal notifications indicating the delayed amount, applicable penalty, and the timeline for settlement,” the statement read.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The deputy managing director of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Limited, Mr Ini Ebong, has offloaded some shares of FBN Holdings Plc, the parent firm of the banking institution.
A regulatory notice from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited confirmed the development on Thursday.
It was disclosed that the transaction occurred on Friday, December 12, 2025, on the floor of the stock exchange.
The sale involved about 11.8 million shares, precisely 11,783,333 units traded at N31.14 per share, amounting to about N366.9 million.
Mr Ebong, who studied Architecture from University of Ife and obtained Bachelor and Master of Science degrees, became the DMD of First Bank in June 2024. Prior to this appointment, he was Executive Director, Treasury and International Banking since January 2022.
He was previously the Group Executive, Treasury and International Banking, a position he held since 2016 after serving as the bank’s Treasurer from 2011 to 2016.
Before joining First Bank, he was the Head of African Fixed Income and Local Markets Trading, Renaissance Securities Nigeria Limited, the Nigerian registered subsidiary of Renaissance Capital. He also worked with Citigroup for 14 years as Country Treasurer and Sales and Trading Business Head.
He has a passion for market development and has worked actively to drive change and internationalisation of the Nigerian financial markets: foreign exchange, fixed income and securities.
He has worked closely with regulatory bodies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Debt Management Office (DMO) in assisting with the development of fresh monetary and foreign exchange policies, to broaden and deepen markets and open them up to international practices.
At various times he has facilitated and delivered courses and seminars on a wide variety of subjects covering Money Markets, Securities and Foreign exchange trading and market risk management subjects to regulators, corporate customers, banks and market participants.
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