CeBIH seeks healthy competition for e-payment growth in 2017

As 2017 financial year approaches, the Committee of E-Banking Industry Heads (CeBIH) has called on banks and electronic payment (e-payment) service providers to embrace cooperative competition to maximise the industry’s potentials.

CeBIH, established in 2009, comprises heads of e-business/e-channels and cards services of all the banks in Nigeria, in efforts to promote electronic banking in line with global best practices

The Chairman, Dele Adeyinka, while speaking at the recently concluded yearly retreat of the group in Abuja, said: “Our industry needs a strong culture of cooperative competition among the various stakeholders to enable it maximize its potential and opportunities, while we collectively fight our battles and enjoy different levels of victory.

“Cooperative competition among stakeholders requires interactions and sharing ideas for the benefit of all. We are prepared to chart the course of creating an enabling environment for the industry players to come together more frequently and deliberate on ways of moving the industry forward.

“This will be coming in the form of quarterly breakfast forums to review and appraise the performance in a previous quarter and set an agenda for the following quarter, as well as other programs aimed at fostering collaboration in the industry.”

Adeyinka noted that banks need to continuously evolve to remain competitive and relevant to consumers in view of the changes in the way individuals and businesses accept payment.

“The payment industry has recently witnessed the entry of diverse non-bank digital players- technology giants and start-ups, which 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 rapidly evolving customer expectations have all made a difference,” he said.

He reiterated that to maintain the customer relationships and relevance, there is a need for all stakeholders to respond to these changes with new strategies, capabilities, and operating models.

“It is becoming evident that the key to success in this digital world is to evolve continuously in order to remain competitive and relevant to consumers. The way in which individuals and businesses accept payment is quickly becoming the next battleground of innovation. Consumers are now surrounded by a wealth of technologies,” he added.