KPMG, a global network of professional firms providing audit, tax and advisory services, has revealed that investment in Nigeria Financial services Technology, FinTech, over the last two years has exceeded $200 million.
This is even as it called on the Federal Government to provide incentives and regulatory support that would strengthen the ecosystem and allow the country to compete favourably in global space.
Boye Ademola, Partner & Head, Financial Services Technology, KPMG in Nigeria, said that FinTech opportunities in Nigeria are significant and could potentially redefine the financial services landscape over the next five years.
Speaking during the 2016 FinTech Summit and the launch of its in-house publication tagged, ‘FinTech in Nigeria: Understanding the value proposition,’ he explained: “Countries like China, United States, United Kingdom, Hong Kong among others have used this technology to better their ecosystems to mature markets.
“In the first quarter of 2016, two Chinese FinTech; Lu.com and JD Finance raised $1.2 billion and $1 billion respectively, in record Asian deals. Lu.com is a wealth management platform while JD Finance is redefining the lending space in China.”
Ademola added that currently, Nigeria’s performance was not bad as it lines up along Egypt and South Africa as top recipients of the technology investments in Africa over the last two years, “Our prognosis is that the FinTech opportunities in Nigeria are significant and could potentially redefine the financial services landscape over the next five years.
“The fast growing young population of about 115 million, below the age of 35 years, exponential growth of mobile phone lines estimated at 150 million as at July 2016; huge financial inclusion potential and relatively strong talent pool are pertinent indicators to opportunities of the technology.”
Ademola pointed out that FinTechs focused on payments were the forerunners as they planned to see more traction on lending, financial inclusion, block chain, and digital bank in the next wave, “Wealth Tech and InsurTech are already emerging and we expect these FinTechs to question the status quo in the wealth management and insurance sectors.”
On his part, KPMG Global FinTech Co-lead, Warren Mead, called for government incentives and regulatory support to strengthen the ecosystem.
“The right mix of technical skills, capital investment, government incentives, regulatory framework and an entrepreneurial and innovative mind-set is the catalyst needed to establish FinTech as a key enabler of financial services in Nigeria,” he added.
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