CASE STUDIES FROM AFRICA

2. Broadly, access to informal financial services is relatively high.
3. Large unbanked population, excluded from any financial services.
4. Access is skewed towards males; females tend to use informal financial services
more.
5. Exclusion levels are higher in rural areas than in urban areas.
Table 16: Access to and Use of Financial Services in Nigeria, 2012
Nigeria Mauritius Nigeria Mauritius
Commercial bank branches per
Commercial bank branches
5.96 107.39
1,000 km 2
per 100,000 adults
5.76 21.57
ATMs per 1,000 km 2 11.78 217.24 ATMs per 100,000 adults 11.39 43.62
Outstanding deposits with
Outstanding loans from
34.94 166.25
commercial banks (% of GDP)
commercial banks (% of GDP)
19.79 81.76
Deposit accounts with
commercial banks per 1,000
adults
… 2,193.12
Loan accounts with
commercial banks per 1,000
adults
… 535.05
Household deposit accounts
with commercial banks per
1,000 adults
Source: http:fas.imf.org
…
Household loan accounts with
commercial banks per 1,000
adults
At the level of consumers, there are still too many people outside the formal banking
system. As mentioned previously, the EFinA Access to Financial Services 2012 survey
showed that of a population of 87.9 million, 34.9 million adults are financially excluded in
Nigeria. Only about 32.5% are banked, 17.3% have access to informal financial services, and
39.7% have no access to financial services whatsoever. Nigeria’s Financial Inclusion Strategy
2012 further points out that 54.4% of the excluded population were women, 73.8% were
under 45 years of age, and 34% had no formal education, whilst 80.4% resided in rural areas.
Informality and volatility of income flows are important barriers for accessing the services of
formal financial service providers that still have to learn how to properly adjust their
products to the needs of large parts of the population. These challenges make financial
innovation, particularly through ICT, particularly mobile banking, critical in providing a
great opportunity to reach scale (mass markets) cost-effectively. But it is clear that the
financial services sector still has a long way to go in terms of its development in Nigeria.
Banking Schools and Institutions
Human capital is recognised as an important factor which drives economic growth. This
constitutes a significant justification for government’s huge expenditure on education
particularly at the university level. Many universities offer courses in banking and finance to
create adequate numbers of skilled persons to operate banking institutions. In Nigeria, 47
universities 45 award undergraduate and master’s degrees; 44 polytechnics and Ccolleges of
Technology 46 award national diplomas, whilst 17 polytechnics and colleges of technology
have banking and finance courses leading to higher national diplomas. There are also postuniversity
institutions which direct their efforts to making bankers more professional in
operations and conduct. Two such institutions in Nigeria are the Chartered Institute of
Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC). The CIBN
…
45
Obtained from National Universities Commission website.
46
Obtained from the National Board of Technical Education.
104