‘Demarketing-driven’ competition frustrating e-Payment growth in Nigeria— CeBIH
After periods of understudy, the Committee of E-Banking Industry Heads has called on banks and other electronic payment service providers to desist from the observed ‘killer’ oriented marketing gimmicks, saying only a healthy competition can drive the sub sector and deepen financial inclusion in the country.
It would be recalled that CeBIH was established July 2009, comprises all heads of e-business/e-channels and cards services of all the 23 banks in Nigeria.
Just as the primary objective of the committee is to promote electronic banking services in line with global best practices and serve as a forum for sharing ideas and experiences by e-banking industry heads, recent findings show that some operators are demarketing others in order to monopolise the emerging market.
In his address during the recent retreat of the committee in Abuja, the CeBIH Chairman, Mr. Dele Adeyinka, stated, “Our industry needs a strong culture of cooperative competition among the various stakeholders to enable it to maximise its potential and opportunities while we collectively fight our battles and enjoy different levels of victory.
A communiqué issued at the end of the retreat, Adeyinka said, “Cooperative competition among stakeholders requires interactions and sharing ideas for the benefit of all, the Committee of e-Banking Industry Heads is prepared to chart the course of creating an enabling environment for the industry players to come together more frequently and rub minds on ways of moving the industry forward. This will be coming in the form of quarterly breakfast meetings review.”
Adeyinka who dwelt on the theme; ‘Disruptive technology and the future of payments’, noted that banks needed to continuously evolve to remain competitive and relevant to consumers in view of the changes in the way individuals and businesses could accept payment.
According to him, “The payment industry has recently witnessed the entry of diverse non-bank digital players – both technology giants and start-ups who are presenting increased competition for banks.
“While these categories of entrants have generally not been major threats to the banking and payments industry in the past, the aggressive nature of the digital players, the prominence of smartphones as a channel and the rapidly evolving customer expectations have all made a difference in recent past.”
“To maintain the customer relationships and stay relevant, there is a need for all stakeholders to respond to these changes with new strategies, capabilities, and operating models.
