ISRAEL ONYEKWERE
The Managing Director of PalmPay, Mr. Chika Nwosu said the FinTech operation is contributing economic values to the economy of Nigeria in many ways.
He stated this during Channels TV Business Roundtable as a guest recently, explained that despite the limitations of FinTechs’ operational services because of the type of license they have, the industry segment is not only offering Nigerians efficient and effective financial transaction services, but that also impacting the lives of Nigerians by supporting government's empowerment programmes.
In his words: "Palmpay is also part of the federal government’s vision of creating one million jobs through various entrepreneurial schemes and skill acquisition programmes. Government is doing a lot of things about the digital economy.
“While we are not allowed to give loans because we are Mobile Money Operators (MMOs), the FinTechs have some forms of support they give to our customers. An example of this is the 20% interest we give for those who save money with us and other added-value-services,” he added.
On how the operators in the industry are handling the issue of trust, Nwosu said: “To be honest with you, all things that are happening is just to make FinTech to be better and to offer better service. Talking of trust element, initially when we newly started our business in Nigeria, there was the issue of trust. In the last one year, after the cashless policy, the trust has started growing.
“There is no doubt to the fact that doing business in Nigeria in the FinTech ecosystem is not quite easy. But Nigeria is actually highly complying when you look at the business of digital payment. People are embracing it,” Nwosu said.
In response to the problem of failed transfers, he said; “Every institution has its business strategy and infrastructure, for us and the majority of FinTechs, we have a structure that makes transactions seamless”.
On why failed transactions have been perennial with the banking system, Nwosu said “Every institution has its own business strategy and structure, but it depends how each prepares in-house. For PalmPay, we have a type of system that makes transactions seamless for our customers from our own end.”
Responding to the recent restriction on onboarding of new customers by the regulator, the company’s head explained that PalmPay agreed with the regulators on some grey areas that need to be put in place.
“After a meeting with the National Security Adviser (NSA), we agreed on some grey areas on the things to put in place. If PalmPay completes their own today, we will start onboarding today. So, there is no limitation. Whenever we complete what they want us to fix, we will continue with the onboarding. As of today, no FinTech has completed the onboarding, but that doesn’t affect our business,” he concluded.
