Digital Payments Ecosystem Requires Robust Collaboration- TeamApt Ltd CEO, Ajalie

TeamApt Ltd’s Managing Director, Dennis Ajalie, has said that fintech companies and banks play very complimentary roles in deepening payment products and services for users while acknowledging that at certain times those roles might have been misunderstood.

A subsidiary of Moniepoint Inc., TeamApt Ltd, facilitates payment processing across many industries while enabling reliable payments for banks and their customers while reducing operating costs.

Mr Ajalie added that the industry’s regulator, Central Bank of Nigeria has delineated what each entity should do and how they should function in creating a successful payment ecosystem that protects consumers and enables businesses, which he admitted to be complementary and not competitive.

He made this point while participating as a panellist at the annual conference of the Committee of e-Business Industry Heads (CeBIH) conference in Lagos with the theme, “Payment System Vision 2030: Navigating Contemporary Issues in Driving Future Growth”.

Other panellists at the session include: Partner, Digital Engineering, Deloitte, Oluwole Oyeniran; Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo; Chief Executive Officer, Emtech, Carmelle Cadet; Chief Operating Officer, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Dr Mohammed Jiya. The panel discussion focused on “Digital Payments and the National Digital Economy Framework (NDEF).”

Formed in July 2008, CeBIH seeks to achieve the primary objective of driving the adoption of electronic banking services in line with global practices by serving as a forum for Heads of e-Business/e-Payments in Nigerian deposit-money banks to share ideas and experiences, as well as advocating for the use of the right technologies, policies, standards, innovation and public awareness in creating a financial services landscape that works for all.

This year’s event, which had Moniepoint Inc. as a Premium Sponsor, demonstrates the financial giant’s avowed commitment to creating a safe, transparent and secure digital payments ecosystem for all Nigerians.

The moderator, Founder, of aCubed Limited, Wunmi Ogunbiyi, opened the panel discussion by highlighting the session’s focus on providing clarity on the real issues that matter to everyday Nigerians when it comes to digital payments, such as high fees that burden users unnecessarily, lack of accountability in digital transactions, bridging the gap in digital literacy to empower all Nigerians and navigating the challenges of our evolving financial ecosystem.

Touching on the imperative of borderless transactions and the solutions for implementation for the framework, Ajalie said: “Borderless transactions have to happen because we’re becoming more interconnected by the day and by the minute. We still have a lot of siloed implementations among key stakeholders and unless we recalibrate our systems, borderless remains beyond our reach and a mirage.

”There’s the fierce urgency of now that demands that we find solid ways to interconnect, and once we’re able to interconnect within ourselves, and reconcile properly, especially on the local front, then we can present a single, unified front that will enable us to push transactions and receive transactions from outside. We cannot go forward without fixing these internal challenges.”

Wrapping up his thoughts, he reiterated the need for industry-wide collaborations in fighting the menace of fraud, “If we can all share information and collaborate seamlessly, we’ll find out that it becomes disinteresting for these bad faith individuals to use the collective technology commonwealth that we have all built to commit nefarious activities.

”So, it goes back to collaboration among fintechs, the banks, NFIU, infrastructure providers, telcos, and switches. We’ve all got to come together to say, enough is enough and that this present situation threatens all of us rather than just one of us.”

The panel stressed the necessity of working together to create adaptable, inclusive, and easily accessible payment solutions that cater to the diverse and expanding Nigerian population. Such systems, they argued, would stimulate economic growth. Additionally, given the regulators’ active efforts to combat fraud, the panel emphasized the importance of every ecosystem member, including consumers, taking responsibility for eliminating fraudulent activities.