IT, key to driving financial sector reforms – SA boss

The Chief Executive Officer, Signal Alliance, Mr. Collins Onuegbu, has said that for the Central Bank of Nigeria and Securities and Exchange Commission to realise the full potential of the financial sector reforms, the entire system must be run on a seamless information technology framework.

Onuegbu, who addressed newsmen in Lagos on Thursday, said that there was no way the Nigerian financial sector would tap into global opportunities if huge investments were not committed to IT by players and other shareholders.

He noted that IT would effectively thrive on available infrastructure, and that there was the need for aggressive infrastructural development in the financial sector.

According to the SA boss, the infrastructural sharing initiative among banks recently proposed by the CBN, might not yield the desired result if relevant technological applications were not brought to bear.

“Even the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards, the implementation of the mobile money model, among others, require sound IT framework for success,” he added.

Onuegbu, however, said that cost minimisation in the financial sector was a factor that must be given the required attention, given the recent financial crisis that crumbled most global financial markets, adding that the right application of IT was critical to addressing cost-related challenges in the financial sector.

On the sharing of infrastructure among banks, he said that it was not possible for all infrastructure at the disposal of banks to be shared among interested banks. He, therefore, explained that there should be a clear arrangement by the regulator.

Source : Punch