CBN targets inclusion of 95% of Nigerians in banking system by 2024

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said 64.1% of the population is already financially included. According to the bank, it aimed to achieve more than 95% inclusiveness by 2024.

Paul Oluikpe, CBN Assistant Director of Financial Development while speaking at an event in Lagos claimed that the central bank had divided commercial banks' Know Your Customer services into various tiers.

In earlier news, Legit.ng reported that the CBN explained that introduction of e-naira was not to compete with Deposit Money Banks amid report that Nigerians are shunning the CBN’s digital currency for mobile money.

How the CBN ensures financial stability

According to Oluikpe, the apex bank used campaigns to raise awareness and bring together stakeholders in order to guarantee financial inclusion. In addition to this, he said the bank also brought together all parties involved in financial services agents, insurance pensions, capital marketers, and even small-scale banks, according to report by Punch.

He said: We have a lot to do because we are currently at 64.1 per cent of inclusion and that is not where we need to be; we need to go beyond that figure to 95 per cent by 2024.

For example, we have crashed the KYC condition, there is tier one, two, three, we have all of these segments to carter to people.

He argued that this was crucial because it gets rid of some of the bureaucracies and bottlenecks associated with obtaining financial products and services by only requiring a minimal amount of identity.

As a regular, he pointed out that because the CBN is not in charge of the internal workings of banks, there may be delays in the manner financial service providers sign up customers due to internal workings of those providers.

He added that while each institution was distinct and faced its own difficulties, the CBN was working to coordinate the sector and drive home to its stakeholders the need for speed.