The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has advised banks and other financial institutions to embrace opportunities in open banking to drive financial inclusion in the country.
Aishah Ahmad, Deputy governor, financial systems stability directorate, CBN, who said this at the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) Advocacy Dialogue Series 6 on Tuesday in Lagos,said open banking held enormous potential for the financial service industry.
The apex bank,she said,had developed the regulatory framework on open banking in Nigeria, which was issued in February last year,adding that it became expedient for the CBN to provide an appropriate framework and guidelines to regulate the practice, having observed the green integration of banks and other financial institutions with innovation in the financial services space and the increased adoption of API-based integration in the industry.
According to her,the CBN, in May 2022, issued the exposure draft of the operational guidelines for open banking in Nigeria to the public for comments.
“It is important for us to note that the framework on open banking recently issued by the CBN is designed for banking and other financial services such as payment and remittance services, collection and disbursement,” she said.
She explained that the framework was aimed at identifying data that might be exchanged and corresponding API services that might be implemented and used by the participants.
She said, “while the framework specifies the role of stakeholders, industry participants are permitted to develop API that must be open, reusable, interoperable, robust and user-centric, and overall be secure.
“The opportunities presented by open banking are diverse and many; it serves to enhance financial inclusion, encourage improvement and promote efficiency in the financial service industry.These are some of the compelling cases for the implementation of open banking in Nigeria, which convinced the CBN that it is the right way to go.’’
