The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says it will partner with the Department for International Development (DFID) to develop the financial technology (fintech) space in the country.
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The Head, Corporate Communication, SEC, Mrs Efe Ebelo, said this in a statement in Abuja on Sunday.
Ebelo said that the partnership agreement was reached when officials of DFID visited the Acting Director-General of the commission, Ms Mary Uduk in Abuja.
She explained that the Acting D-G said the commission was enthusiastic about the collaboration as it would encourage responsible use of new technologies.
Uduk said the partnership would also promote digital finance in the capital market, influence increased international participation and cooperation.
According to her, it will also provide investors with more choices in the country’s capital market.
She said that SEC was looking to adopt regulatory and supervisory practices for orderly development and stability of fintech.
The SEC boss said the commission would pay attention to sustaining confidence and safeguarding the integrity of the market.
“In this way, our policies will facilitate the safe entry of new products, activities and intermediaries.
”In addition, we will ensure that regulation does not stand in the way of innovation.
“We have come up with ways to monitor the risks that may come up. We are building capacity to train young people that will be able to drive the process.
“We hope that this year will be a turning point. We are trying to gather as much information as we can to be able to contextualise and synthesise regulation in the country.
“Young people are beginning to get interested in investment and they are doing this via fintech and that is why we are doing all that we can to develop rules around it so that the risks will be mitigated,” she explained.
Ebelo explained that the Senior Adviser, UK DFID, Mr Richard Sandall, said that they were in the country to impact the fintech space.
“We are in Nigeria to look at the fintech environment, regulatory environment and see if there are ways the fintech environment can be built.
“We know the SEC has enthusiasm for fintech and we want to help develop it as much as we can, ” Sandall added.