As part of its mandate to facilitate the development of Innovative Inclusive Financial Services for the unbanked and under-banked in Nigeria, Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA), hosted the MOBILE PAYMENTS SERVICES REGULATORY FRAMEWORK DISSEMINATION WORKSHOP to address major issues raised in the regulatory framework issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in June 2009.

EFInA Chief Executive Officer, Modupe Ladipo said that when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued its Mobile Payments Services Regulatory Framework in June 2009, it became necessary for EFInA given its mandate, to provide a platform for stakeholders to share their views and agree on the implementation of the framework. According to her, “This workshop serves as an opportunity for knowledge exchange between the regulators and key stakeholders (banks, payment service providers and mobile operators) on perspectives on the regulation of mobile payments and branchless banking in different jurisdictions. The workshop will also create awareness of the framework and provide stakeholders the opportunity to present their views.”

With focus on regulation and supervision of mobile payments, the workshop which had Nigerian thought leaders and international speakers in the Finance and Mobile Payments Industry in attendance saw many participants including three regulators from the Central Bank of Kenya, Bank of Bangladesh and Bank of Ghana sharing their perspectives on the regulation, supervision and implementation of Branchless Banking and Mobile Payment Regulatory Framework.

Modupe Ladipo CEO, EFInA, Evelyn Stark Senior Programme Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Ahmed Dermish Associate, Bankable Frontier Associates			Abayomi Atoloye Ag Director Banking Operations Department, Central Bank of Nigeria(representing Tunde Lemo Deputy Governor Banking Operations)
Chowdhury Haque, Executive Director Bangladesh Bank Modupe Ladipo, CEO EFInA, Emmanuel Obaigbona, Deputy Director, CBN and Michael Tarazi, Senior Policy Specialist CGAP			Gerald Nyaoma Arita, Director, Banking Services, Central Bank of Kenya
Chowdhury Mohidul Haque, Executive Director Payment Systems, Bangladesh Bank			V.J. Dela Selormey, Director, Banking Supervision Department, Bank of Ghana (Retired)
Speakers and Panelists			Michael Tarazi, Senior Policy Specialist CGAP
George Held, Director, Zap Holding BV			(L-R)Modupe Ladipo, CEO EFInA, Abayomi Atoloye- Ag Director Banking Operations Department, CBN

The acting Director Banking Operations, Central Bank of Nigeria Abayomi Atoloye representing the Deputy Governor Banking Operations Tunde Lemo delivered the key note address; “An Overview of the Central Bank of Nigerian Mobile Payments Regulatory Framework and the Future of Mobile Payments in Nigeria”. He stated “One of the initiatives of the Payments System Vision 2020 is the development of “Mobile Payment System in Nigeria” and CBN is particularly interested in the mobile payments service in view of its capacity to drive financial inclusion, especially among rural dwellers as well as the un-banked in urban localities.

Gerald Nyaoma Arita, Director Banking Services, Central Bank of Kenya gave an overview of the evolution, regulation and supervision of Safaricom’s mobile money product Mpesa in Kenya. Mr. Arita stated, “The Kenyan formal banking channels have low reach amongst their population due to the high cost of establishing an extensive branch network, particularly outside of the urban center and mobile money has to the potential to bridge this sizable gap”. Other regulators V.J. Dela Selormey, Director Banking Supervision Department, Bank of Ghana (retired) and Chowdhury Haque, Executive Director Payment Systems, Bangladesh Bank gave their perspectives on the regulation and supervision of mobile payments and branchless banking in their jurisdictions.

Evelyn Stark of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Ahmed Dermish of Bankable Frontier Associates delivered presentations on the “Financial Inclusion and Mobile Payments: Global Policy Challenges and Innovations”. Mr. Dermish said, “The road to achieving inclusive mobile banking should be clearly demarked by a proportionate regulatory framework in consultation with those stakeholders who incur the risk and cost of the journey”.

Other discussions included interactive sessions on the “Central Bank of Nigeria Mobile Payments Regulatory Framework and Key Success Factors for Mobile Payments and Branchless Banking: Attaining the balance between Regulation, Innovation and Financial Inclusion. George Held, Director Zap Holding BV stated, “Sustainable mobile payments service introduction and always works in partnership with leading Financial Institutions under the guidance and supervision from respective Central Banks”.

As EFInA’s aim is to become an innovation centre targeting catalytic change across Nigeria’s financial sector, to make markets work for those currently excluded from the formal financial services, we believe the implementation of Mobile Payments in Nigeria is critical to the achievement of this goal.