With fintech more jobs will be created — Fintech Association president

Dr Segun Aina has experience in banking industry with many innovative banking exploits credited to his name. Currently, he is the brain behind Fintech Association in Nigeria. He spoke with TUNDE BUSARI on the impact of technology in banking and other sectors of the economy. Excerpts

 

UNTIL lately, you were known as a successful banker, making your switch to technology is a subject of interest. What informed the idea?

It is correct that I started my life as a banker with no knowledge of technology, but along the line I discovered that to do banking more efficiently and to reach more people effectively, technology is involved. When I moved from UBA to Ecobank, I was employed as head of operations and technology, reporting to my able director who was a guru in technology. So, I did not have a choice than to develop interest in technology. I did self-tutoring, and luckily Ecobank gave me the needed support. When I then assumed the position of general manager for technology in Ecobank, it was very easy for me using technology to provide banking services to more people that needed the services. So, that was how my interest germinated. When I moved to Fountain Trust Bank, it was a small bank run in one office. Then, my challenge was to convert it into a commercial bank. Though not new, as a commercial bank competing with the likes of UBA, the only thing you can do is to do something different in the market. To achieve this, we needed to use technology. I told my boss that technology would sell in the market. That was how we started the result checking.

 

How did you achieve that?

After looking at 20 different ideas, we picked result checking, and today if you do examination like WAEC, JAMB, NECO, you can check your result on your phone. I started it in 2001, and as at that time, we were able to get all the examination bodies, and there was nothing like that in the market place. So we were able to get all the businesses of those institutions. After the second year, I discovered that the money we were getting was about 40 per cent of total bank revenue. So, I told the boss, let us take this out of the bank, let’s set up a new company because some of the technology people we are employing could not stay in the bank.

So the bank agreed that we should create a new company, and I was the chairman of the company. We have people like Chief Osunkeye, who is a guru in technology as member of the board. The bank, after consolidation, now part of Heritage Bank. But that company still exists today, they are still doing all those businesses since 2001, and it’s getting so big now. They have branches in Nigeria and all other branches across Africa doing very well.

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From that also, when I saw what I could do for a bank like that, I also invested in some other small companies. A young man came from America all because he wanted to set up a small company in technology. I bought shares in it and within one or two years we had about 30 programmers. They are developing programmes for schools. We went to OAU, we asked them for all their best students in technology, and they have been sending them to us. Today, that company is now called Venture Garden Group. It is one of the biggest technology companies in Nigeria today.

So this is how I started my journey in technology. I have to be reading everyday because I can’t go to a place and be teaching them what happened yesterday in the technology world. And that is why I have contacts all over the world. I have been able to build relationships all over the world. There is nothing that is happening all over the world that we do not know instantly. There is nobody in technology that we do not have access to through somebody or directly with them and that has put me in a vantage position.

 

At your age, what are you still looking for?

I am familiar with this question, and I am also quick to tell them that everything is about productivity, not the age. We have a 20-year-old person thinking like a 100-year-old person and we have a 100-year-old person thinking like a 20-year-old person.  For me, I see a gap that we have to fill. Everybody is just doing their own thing, but I believe that we must come together.  We created the Fintech Association of Nigeria from the scratch, and today almost all the banks are members. We have technology companies, big ones in it. We have Delloitte, and about seven universities are members. Through these universities we get research.

We also need the media and if your newspaper is also ready to join, it will be a win-win. Channels is a formidable member, they cover our events free of charge, and we are able to disseminate information about what we are doing. Guardian is also a member, I think Punch and Vanguard are also members.

 

Talking of technology and the rate it is going now, don’t you think it will still lead to loss of job?

That is a very good question, and I always tell people that my answer to that is that technology will create more jobs. Let me cite an example of a study done by The World Economic Forum. They did a study in 2018 and came out with the fact that by 2021-22, there will be millions of job roles that do not exist today. Today, they are calling you ‘editor’, maybe in 20 years time, there will be a role for technology to do your job. Today’s banking is not about banking because there are people that are now lending money and they are not bankers, and with your mobile phone they can determine how much you can afford. So, if you apply for a loan, in 30 seconds they will approve it for you.  In 2001, we started having GSM, look at the jobs it has created for people. It will create a lot of jobs, but people that will lose their jobs are people that don’t change. We have what we call retooling, reskilling and retraining. Reskill means today I am a journalist, but I want to become a digital journalist. For example, the newspaper company, Mirror closed down and they went digital. We have agritech, and the like.

 

Where do you think the Nigerian government or some of our institutions can come in?

The role of the government is to provide an enabling environment, and they cannot do it alone. They need institutions like the Fintech Association to be able to position themselves because Nigeria has what it takes to lead Africa. People in government cannot do it alone, so they need people with experience, and at the end of the day, it will be a win-win thing: win-win for government and a win-win for the institutions. My advice is that government should be open to private intervention without any fear.

 

I want to congratulate you on your second term as the president, Global Banking Education Board. What should we expect in your second tenure?

Global Banking Education Board is a board that brings together all the professional banking institutions in the world to be able to determine the level, the quality and the standardized qualification of bankers all over the world.  Like Ecobank, for example, it is in 36 countries all over the world. First Bank is also in UK. We don’t want to get to UK and be subjected to some tests of standard of ethics and so on, so we are going to have a standard of training for bankers.

We started the programme a year ago. Ten countries participated. Nigeria was nominated as part of the task force.  I asked them if they can relinquish the headship to Nigeria, and I took over the mandate. Sometimes, I travel with my own money and within six months we have been able to mobilize more than 26 countries. When it comes to leadership, everybody said I should do it, and UK decided to take the vice chairmanship. Hong Kong produced  the second vice chairman. We produced standards adopted by countries all over the world.

What we want to do now is responsible banking. We want to create standards to guide banks in a transparent way. We have a secretariat in London, and we are going to partner with World Bank too.

 

Nigerian Tribune