Software Group, a global financial technology provider, has announced the launch of its Fast-track Agency banking software for Nigerian banks that want to expand their reach at speed and competitive cost.
Fast-track Agency Banking is an off-the-shelf solution with standard features for the key transactions, fully managed on the cloud.
It is powered by Software Group’s DigiWave banking platform for overall digital transformation.
The new managed software service comes as agency banking is growing exponentially across Nigeria.
Top banks, such as Access Bank and FirstBank, have recently added millions of customers through agents, and more than doubled agency transaction volumes.
This recent surge in agency transactions and agents has lifted the proportion of Nigerian adults with a financial account, which rose to between 45 and 50 per cent by the end of 2020, as agency banking transactions jumped from 3 per cent of the country’s transactions to 19 per cent in a single year.
However, that growth has not yet been enough to achieve the National Financial Inclusion Strategy target of 70 per cent financial inclusion by 2020.
“There is still much to do to deliver financial services to the 38 million Nigerian adults who remain completely unbanked,” said Connor Hanan, Software Group’s CEO Africa and the Middle East.
“With millions of adults still in need of financial services, and access reported as one of the greatest barriers, our software development has been driven by the need to accelerate the creation of agency networks.
“Using the new managed service, banks can create and roll out agency banking in little more than one month and at a set price that reflects their budget, saving on operational cost and development time.
“In simple terms, with Nigeria having broken into agency banking in a meaningful way in only the last 30 months, we are launching a new managed agency software where we have done everything to provide a ready-made platform. It covers all key operations like customer acquisition, deposits, withdrawals, liquidity management, mini statements, and balance enquiries, creates dashboards and reporting, so market penetration can be achieved faster and more cost-effectively.
“We genuinely believe this entirely new approach can now fuel further agency growth and an acceleration to reach the country’s inclusion targets.”
Recent research found that each 1 percent increase in the level of financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa led to a 0.13 percent increase in welfare. The drive to deliver these gains comes as EFInA reports that 86 million Nigerians suffered livelihood losses through the pandemic, which has seen many who were retrenched now moving into entrepreneurship.
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