First Bank Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Olusegun Alebiosu, has called for stronger collaboration among financial industry stakeholders to improve banking services and strengthen the sector’s contribution to economic development, as industry leaders raised concerns about banks’ ability to translate increased capital into productive lending.

Alebiosu made the call as FirstBank hosted the West Africa International Banking Dialogue and Awards Gala 2026 in partnership with The Asian Banker in Lagos, where banking executives, regulators and fintech leaders examined the challenges facing financial services across the region.

According to him, the banking dialogue offered industry leaders a unique opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations that will shape the future of banking in the region.

The discussions highlighted concerns over the deployment of fresh capital raised by Nigerian banks, access to finance for small businesses, competition from financial technology companies and the difficulties of conducting cross-border transactions.

Managing Director of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Premier Oiwoh, disclosed that 33 banks raised N4.65 trillion in fresh capital, with domestic investors accounting for nearly 75 per cent, raising questions about how they would deploy the funds to support economic growth.

Represented by Head of IT Governance and Service Delivery at NIBSS, Stephen Ohiomoba, he said the capital should translate into more productive lending, particularly to small businesses, agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure.

“The new capital our banks have raised was not raised for its own sake,” Ohiomoba said, stressing the need for banks to deploy their resources in ways that support economic activity.

He identified three priorities for the industry through 2030: deploying capital for greater economic impact, strengthening resilience and compliance in everyday banking, and extracting more value from shared financial infrastructure.

Ohiomoba also disclosed that NIBSS’s National Payment Stack had processed more than 100 million successful transactions by September 2026.

He said its adoption of the ISO 20022 messaging standard provides richer, more consistent transaction information that could improve reconciliation, risk analysis and the development of financial products.

President and Managing Editor of TAB Global, Foo Boon Ping, questioned whether banks would channel the additional capital into lending to small and medium-sized enterprises or continue to favour government securities over financing businesses.

He argued that the industry’s performance should be assessed by the extent to which financial resources support productive economic activity. Better access to data, he noted, could help banks assess borrowers more effectively, manage lending risks and develop financing products suited to businesses.

Also speaking, Head of Public Sector Payments and Partnerships at Wema Bank, Omowunmi Odumusi, said fintech companies that initially relied on banks’ infrastructure were increasingly competing with them for customers and transactions.

She maintained that banks needed to recognise the shift in the relationship rather than assume that partnerships alone would protect their market position.