CBN Hosts FICAN Bi-Monthly Forum On e-Payment

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will be hosting the September edition of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) Bi-Monthly Forum in Lagos.

The event, with the theme ‘Development in the Electronic Payment Industry in 2016’ will hold on Saturday, September 10 at the FICAN Centre, Onipanu Lagos.

Guest Speaker, Mr ‘Dipo Fatokun, CBN Director, Banking & Payment System Department, will ex-ray the key issues that have defined the electronic payment industry within this year.

Mr Fatokun will be speaking on the implementation of the cash-less banking policy, its impact on the payment system, Bank Verification Number (BVN), mobile banking, internet banking and banking security.

The CBN director will also address issues around electronic payment frauds, and the need for bank customers to protect their account details.

A statement from the association says it is aware that banking in Nigeria is becoming totally dependent on Information Technology initiatives and that any financial journalist who aspires to survive the current hyper-competitive and highly dynamic business environment must devise effective ways of acquiring resourceful electronic banking knowledge to support his work.

“We enjoin all members of the association to take part in this forum to enhance their capacity to deliver on their work. Through this training, there would be information exchange and knowledge sharing on electronic banking, that would restore public confidence on electronic payments,” it said.

“FICAN believes that the introduction of electronic banking services have shifted the system from the era of ‘face-to-face’ banking relationship to ‘man-to-machine’/’machine-to-man’ banking relationship.

“Now customers can enjoy the benefit of performing banking services at the comfort of their home anytime without carrying load of cash around. However, as stakeholders in the banking system, financial journalists must have the knowledge to report and interpret banking activities in this era,” the statement added.