To further strengthen the financial technology (FINTECH) ecosystem, the Fintech Association of Nigeria (FinTechNGR) has partnered with EMTECH to offer the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Regulatory Sandbox to all members of the association at no cost.

EMTECH is CBN’s technical partner on the Regulatory Sandbox that offers the advanced on-boarding process for startups and firms to gain access to the apex bank’s Regulatory Sandbox.

Chief Operating Officer (COO) at FinTechNGR, Dr. Babatunde Obrimah, who announced it, said the partnership would enable FinTechNGR to offer all its registered members access to the CBN Regulatory Sandbox free of charge.

According to him, members can have free access to the CBN Sandbox, navigate through it and take advantage of the regulated online tools to develop technology solutions that will address various needs in the financial sector.

For emphasis, the CBN Regulatory Sandbox is an online platform that allows startups and firms to conduct live tests on new innovative products, services, delivery channels or business models in a controlled environment with regulatory oversight. The platform provides all the necessary tools to support and facilitate innovation within the Nigerian financial space.

Executive Director, Africa at EMTECH, Tunji Odumuboni, who spoke about the importance of CBN Sandbox to startups in the Fintech space at the recently held 2023 Fintech Week in Lagos, said the platform would allow service providers to develop technology solutions across different segments of the financial services sector like payments, savings and investments, among others, in a regulated environment.

“As the technical partner to CBN, we are happy to partner FinTechNGR to offer its members the opportunity to use the in-built tools in the CBN Sandbox to develop technology solutions in the financial technology space. We therefore invite all members of the FinTechNGR to take advantage of the opportunities that the partnership offers,” Odumuboni said.

At a panel session moderated by Adedamola Oloko from AXA Mansard, which featured Partner, Banwo & Ighodalo, Ayodele Adeyemi-Faboya; CEO, HealthCap, Dr. Ola Brown; CEO, Wella Health, Dr. IkpemeNeto; CEO, Clafiya, Jennie Nwokoye; and CEO, Afri-Health, Dr. Linda Obi, the panelists discussed the impact of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain Technology on healthcare and how telemedicine is driving access to healthcare services in both urban and rural communities.

They spoke on several use cases of how medical doctors are leveraging AI to diagnose patients and how medical doctors relied on data from Blockchain in addressing decentralised Financing (DeFi) in the health sector.

The panelists were of the view that telemedicine has helped medical doctors in reaching out to their patients in far and remote areas. They stressed the need for government support in key infrastructure deployment that would enhance the healthcare sector.