The President, Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks, Rasheed Bolarinwa, urged traditional institutions to raise their capacity in technology to compete in the digital space.
He spoke at the association’s second National Stakeholder Conference in Lagos with the theme, ‘Marketing financial services in dynamic times’.
Bolarinwa said digitalisation was a major trend that was rapidly disrupting the general ecosystem including the financial services sector.
Consumer behaviour was being altered as the mode of buying and selling shifted from the brick-and-mortal traditional mode to online purchases, while fostering increasing adoption of digital payment systems, he said.
The ACAMB president said, “It is not just that; demand for safer, faster and cost-efficient services is also getting higher as consumers become more sophisticated while competition also gets fiercer by the day.
“As good news as this seems to be, for us as financial services providers, the rate at which fintechs and neo-banks have, and continue to transform the finance industry, is a wake-up call for the traditional financial institutions to keep up with latest innovations in order to succeed and thrive.
“Part of the imperative of these dynamic times is the demand on us in the industry to embrace innovation, adaptation, and agility if we must remain relevant in today’s marketplace.”
He said he hoped that frank discussions, viewpoints and important suggestions that would emanate from the conference would be documented and form part of the building blocks that key influencers and decision-makers could find useful.
The theme of the event, he said, was relevant considering the dynamism of the current times and the impact on the financial services industry.
He said, “Among the key indicators of these dynamics times are macroeconomic headwinds that are redefining the financial market as well as other markets across board.
“Rising inflationary trend, purchasing power parity and supply shocks occasioned by forex scarcity have had a significant impact on production and ability of people to save money and invest.”
Bolarinwa said the conference, was an opportunity for stakeholders from different aspects of financial services industry to discuss and share knowledge about marketing strategies in the current fast-paced global financial market.
