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CardExpo 2015 to discuss E-Payment growth potential

By BusinessNews Staff on April 24, 2015

Intermarc Consulting Limited, organisers of the annual CardExpo conference and exhibition, has said arrangements have been concluded to host the 2015 edition of CardExpo in Lagos, with a focus on electronic payment, the assumption that underlines growth potentials and how innovation will drive the process.

This year’s conference, which is scheduled to hold from June 23 – 25, 2015 in Lagos , marks the 15th edition of Africa’s most anticipated CardExpo Africa 2015 conference and exhibition with special focus on card, mobile, identification and payment.

The theme for this year’s conference and exhibition is “Innovation: The Future of ePayment”.

The conference and exhibition will also focus on new users as well as the service delivery strategy that will deliver the future of payment.

Conference Director, Lilian Ekwedike, noted that while the payment landscape has evolved rapidly over the past decade, due to a flurry of innovation and regulation, expansive growth in electronic payments and the inclusion of new market entrants, industry research indicates that the next decade will yield a period of even faster changes.

According to her, “In the traditional electronic payment sector, the weak national economies across Africa continues to drive cost efficiencies in both domestic and international payment systems. International trade expansion and globalisation are growing the demands for cross border payment while the rapidly changing demands of corporates, non-banks and banks for lower, reduced fees and improved services, will increase pressure on traditional payments models to rationalise.”

She said the retail payment sector was already undergoing major change primarily as a result of the disruptive impact of ecommerce mobile and tablets. There is a rapid development of new payment concepts and business structures which will displace traditional cash and other forms of payment.

Ekwedike explained that over the next five to seven years, retail and WHOLESALE payments are expected to mature into highly automated and interactive eco-systems.

“Of particular importance and a new opportunity for banks, will be the growth in the use of traditional electronic payments in the retail sector. This is beginning to happen in Nigeria with the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) instant payment platform. Electronic and the newly emerging alternative payment have an increasingly important role to play in enabling banks to displace cash and cheque transactions over the next decade as e-commerce grows and payment accelerates rapidly. Innovation and new developments will be the key drivers for change over the next five to seven years,” Ekwedike said.

According to her, at the conference and exhibition, top card and e-payment experts will be sharing inside strategies on positioning and enhancing card business.

Merchants, issuers, financial institutions, and solution providers will get first-hand information on insightful panel debates, a holistic idea exchange around the industry’s most pressing issues on cards, mobile payment, mobilePoS (MPOS), Near Field Communications (NFC), bank verification number (BVN), Square Me, Automated Teller Machine (ATM), eGovernment payments at federal and state levels, utility payments, among others.

She also said the company would be rewarding bank customers that frequently use their cards on Point of Sales (PoS) terminals. Merchants and sales persons who promote and encourage the use of card on PoS will also be rewarded with various cash prizes under the CBN Electronic Payment Incentive Scheme (EPIS).

She confirmed that Intermarc has also put together Demo Sessions that will allow young people present and demonstrate their innovative solutions during the conference. N250,000 will be won by each of the best four e-payment demo pitchers. Only solutions that has not been launched and are not in the market will qualify to be presented at the pitches.

Over 50 companies, including banks, card companies from the local and international payment community have thrown their weight behind the event.
The Central Bank governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele will be leading other Nigerian financial institutions’ chiefs to speak at the opening ceremony of the event while his deputy, Mr. Sulaiman Barau, will speak at the closing dinner.

[ThisDay]

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