The outgoing Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Akinwuntan has commended the Nigerian banking industry for providing leadership in the sector on the African continent, especially in the use of technology for banking transactions.
He said during an interview in Lagos with Epa.com.ng that Nigerian banks have shown courage in leveraging on technology to improve reach, service, transparency and trust. This power and influence have placed Nigerian banks as leaders in Africa and they are actually doing better than those in a number of developed economies, he noted.
Akinwuntan explained that Nigerian banks, “Actually do much better than a number of developed economies in terms of their ability to open account on the phone, do instant payments, access loans digitally, operate 24/7, dispute resolution, a common infrastructure and platform like NIBBS, which all the banks invested in; supporting, development, deepening of the fixed income markets like FMDQ, supporting the growth of key sectors like oil and gas, agric, increasingly, manufacturing and the various segments. When you look at the growth trajectory, per capita of banks, you will see impressive numbers that are much higher than the GDP growth and this shows that the banking industry has added value”.
In terms of where there are additional opportunities, the outgoing Ecobank MD said the banks still need to do much more, subject to the operating environment, in promoting exports.
He noted that banks in countries like Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Rwanda play a much more bullish role in promoting the export of their commodities, and while Nigerian banks are beginning to look a bit more in that way, “We need to be a bit more aggressive, in order that Nigeria can realise the potentials. The Central Bank is pushing that with a lot of various initiatives, but we need the fiscal and legal environment to support that. But with banks being more bullish, we will be able to carry more people along”.
Banks also need to collaborate more with Telecomms companies, to make sure that every Nigerian adult has affordable, seamless, easy access to formal financial services.
Today, he said, close to 90% of payments, commerce and transactions value in Nigeria, at the household level is still done in cash and there is a huge opportunity there because when that is brought into the formal sector, cost of money can come to the single digits, there will be better wealth creation, more employment opportunities, and the currency can be more stable. “More of the power of the economy is not within the formal sector, and therefore is not being leveraged for multiplier effect. So that’s an area that we need to take that in the first instance to, let’s say 50%. In doing this, that will be significant value. Interest rates will be in single digit and will be more stable, and more people will have access. Once people can participate in the productive side of the economy, there is enough to handle the consumption side of the economy. So that’s an area that I think we need to over the next decade, follow through, collaborate more which we are doing with the FinTech, as an opportunity to fast track innovation and bring the informal financial sector into the formal sector”.
Mr. Akinwuntan spoke on several areas of operation of Ecobank and why it has been able to lead on several fronts, in and outside Nigeria, including equal opportunities, products and services.
On gender balance, he said: “You pick specific areas as women. So as a platform, the opportunities of inclusiveness that the Ecobank franchise provides both in our conduct where the feminine gender career opportunities as an equal opportunity institution, is something really that can be showcased more to encourage others, that, that should be the standard. The fact is many times when people ask about, so we need to know your practices in rewarding male, female – it is strange to me, because in Ecobank, there is no distinguishing factor whether you’re male or female – in package, in opportunity, in consideration, in mobility, it is put in front of you based on merit, full stop – you have the merit, we run.
“And we are seeing that even in both composition of the board in Nigeria, where we also have a female chairman and we have over 40% of members of the board in the feminine gender. Within the institution, we are exactly 50% male, 50% female, and in fact, the executive and management team is actually over 50% female and below 50% male – but it is because the discussion is from outside the bank, people point to it. For us, it is equal opportunity, you have the merit, you pursue your career across the entire across the entire Ecobank group in a very consistent manner. We’ve had female MD out of Liberia, we didn’t remember if there is war or there is no war. In fact, the current MD in Sierra Leone is a woman. We’ve had female MDs in Guinea Bissau, Mali, one of the youngest MDs ever appointed in the Ecobank Group in the last 15 years was a lady and she was appointed on merit”.
On the most unique and unparalleled Ecobank product, Akinwuntan pointed at instant payment across thirty-three countries in African where the bank is able to do the settlement and the payments instantly as an operating bank within those markets.
Asked if he had any regrets or something the bank could have done differently during his tenure, Mr. Akinwuntan said: “I won’t call it regrets; I would say something we could have done. We are quoted on three stock exchanges, which were done simultaneously in Africa, – Lagos, Accra and Abidjan. I think we should have listed simultaneously also, in either in London, or in the US, so that Africans in those locations have a chance to invest easily in what we are doing as a Pan African institution and that, would further deepen the ability of Ecobank to leverage on Africa renaissance to deliver the concept of Africa for Africa”.
Today, he explained, if you look at the wealth and power of Africans in the diaspora, increasingly, I think for Nigeria, and I think for Africa today the jury is out there, what percentage of global GDP is actually produced by Africans today.
“And that can be very significant, which means, Africa as a destination for investment should be doing much better than where we are today and best to be in those markets to attract that. And that is because when we did the Euro bond offer last year, which was the first Euro bond offer in any financial institution in Africa post COVID, we were subscribed more than three times, we set out to raise $300 million, with had over subscriptions in excess of $1 billion. So that that is a measure of investors from outside Africa, keen to invest in Africa. So if Ecobank was listed in those markets, at the same time, as we listed within Africa, we would have a better platform to attract Africans and international investors to support the realisation of our vision because I was directly involved as part of the leadership team that worked on that listing process. I think that if we did that, then we would have had deeper pockets to move faster in covering Africa. By now, we will be in 55 African countries, probably in every country in Africa”, he concluded.
Mr. Patrick Akinwuntan was appointed MD of Ecobank Nigeria in 2018 and is leaving the role after attaining the mandatory retirement age.
