The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the National Insurance Commission, (NAICOM) as well as other regulatory bodies have reiterated their commitment to ensuring that every segment of the society is covered in the ongoing financial inclusion initiative of the Federal Government.
They also promised that more efforts will be made to ensure more Nigerians are captured in the digitalisation of the economy through the financial inclusion policy.
The assurance was given at the inaugural conference of Oriental News Nigeria with the theme “Engaging with critical groups to develop effective financial inclusion initiative” which held recently in Lagos.
Speaking during the conference, Director General, SEC, Lamido Yuguda, assured that with the help of the fast growing Fintech penetration in the economy and financial systems, more Nigerians will be captured and be more protected to effectively navigate the nation’s financial systems, through the enabling channels, including the capital market, insurance and savings.
Yuguda, who was represented by the Head, Financial Inclusion Division at SEC, Adatu Faruk, said that the commission has created new standards and rules for registration and operations of fintech firms in the market to ensure compliance with global standards and adequate protection of investments. He reassured stakeholders that the licensed Fintech companies will further speedy financial inclusion policy of the federal government, as well as ensuring adequate protection for their financial/ investment transactions.
Also, speaking at the conference the Commissioner for Insurance and chief executive of the National Insurance Commission, (NAICOM), Sunday Thomas, assured Nigerians that the micro insurance schemes established by the Commission, through licensing of some companies to operate in the segment is focused at ensuring that Nigerians at the grassroots level are not left out of the budding Nigerian financial enterprise.
For his part, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Dambatta, reiterated that the best approach towards benefitting from globalised digital economy is to be financially conclusive. Dambatta, who was represented by Mrs Freda Ruth Bruce-Bennet, Deputy Director, Digital Economic Department, NCC, stated that the NCC in its pursuit to ensure that more Nigerians are included financially, is committed to training and retraining of youths IT experts, Hackathons, and establishing hubs across the country to ensure steady and speedy expansion of financial inclusion policy to benefit every strata of the society.