Experts push for cashless society

L-R: Group Chief Market Officer Interswitch Tito Adeniyi-Aderoju. Director, Payment Technology and Infastructure, Interswitch Akeem Lawal. Division President, Middle East/Africa, MasterCard Worldwide. Michael Miebach, Director, Payment solutions and busin

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.