Business
CBN, Others Target 7.6million New Bank Customers

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), bank operators and other stakeholders in the financial sector have deliberated on ways to ensure financial inclusion of additional 7.6 million Nigerians in 2018.
The CBN Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Dr Okwu Nnanna, at the Financial Inclusion State Steering Committee (FISSCO) Regional Capacity Building Programme in Abuja, said all stakeholders were important in achieving the set target.
“The vulnerable segments in our society remain a major concern for financial inclusion as they constitute a large proportion of the excluded population.
“For instance in Nigeria, the proportion of females without access to formal financial services was 46.3 per cent in 2016 compared to 36.8 per cent of men.
“In addition, a world disability study on people living with disability showed that 25 million Nigerians were living with one form of disability or the other and this acts as a hindrance to accessing basic financial products and services.
“In addition to women and people with disabilities, vulnerable segments can further include youth, rural communities and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and they all should form part of our focus,’’ he said.
Nnanna recommended that to improve access to financial services, affordable savings, credit payment, insurance and pension products should be designed, targeted at the vulnerable groups in the society.
He also urged commercial banks and Micro Finance Banks to increase sensitisation to rural areas on the use of Point of Sale (POS), ATMs, and Cashless mobile money services.