FINO PayTech and ZaaEdge Join Forces to Promote Financial Inclusion Technology in Nigeria

Wednesday, 05 September 2012

  FINO and ZaaEdge Join Forces to Promote Financial Inclusion Technology in Nigeria

 

Highlights:

  • FINO - ZaaEdge aims to tap the huge potential in Nigeria; it is estimated that nearly 46.3% of the country's population is unbanked
  • Nigeria is keen to deploy technology to drive financial inclusion and services
  • FINO’s expertise in pioneering technology enabled branchless banking in India, would be of immense value to the strategic partnership

 

New Delhi , India, 5 th July, 2012: Financial Inclusion Network & Operations (FINO), India’s largest alternate channel for banking services & banking technology service provider, today announced the tie up with ZaaEdge Resources Limited, one of the leading technology solutions providers. 

Through this strategic partnership, FINO would be entering Nigerian market that has a huge potential for providing banking services to the bottom of the pyramid population. Towards this opportunity, ZaaEdge would promote FINO’s path breaking banking technology solutions and services in Nigeria. These are designed and developed keeping in mind the needs of illiterate, poor and rural people. The strategic partnership will extend the reach of FINO’s wide range of products to the Nigerian market.   

Mr. Shyam Rao, Vice President and Head of international Business, FINO said, “FINO has been at the forefront of enabling financial inclusion in India through branchless banking and deploying in house developed technology for the target market. We are excited at the prospect of sharing our expertise towards Nigeria’s financial inclusion efforts. We believe our proven banking technology products and services would help bridge the banked-unbanked  gap in a timely and affordable manner.” 

ZaaEdge Resources Co-Founder, Mr. Omotayo Babatunde said “we have many Nigerians, for several reasons, are unbanked and lack access to formal financial services. The results of the EFInA Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2010 survey stated that 39.2 million Nigerians representing 46.3% of the adult population are financially excluded; whilst only 25.4 million Nigerians, representing 30% of the adult population are banked. 

“The survey also revealed” Babatunde continued “that 23.8 million adults are currently saving at home. If 50% of these people were to save N1, 000 per month, then up to N143bn could be incorporated into the formal sector every year. We believe that our partnership with FINO will make a great impact in helping to drive the CBN initiative aimed at reducing the percentage of adult Nigerians excluded from financial services from 46.3 percent as at 2010 to 20 percent by 2020”

  “Technological innovations reduce transaction costs, bridge geographical strains and open new opportunities by expanding markets”, added Mr. Rao .

 

About FINO:

FINO, India’s largest alternate channel for banking and business correspondent (BC), was created in 2006 by a consortium of banks and other sectoral entities. It provides banking technology and infrastructure services to financial institutions. FINO serves over 50 million customers through 31000 transaction points spread across India. FINO works with various national and private banks in their efforts to reach out to the unbanked and unserved population.

 

About ZaaEdge:

ZaaEdge is a technology service provider serving the needs of government agencies, financial institutions and telecommunication companies registered in Nigeria to carry out the business of supplying, installing and maintaining advanced integrated customized solutions ( www.zaaedge.com )