Mainstreet Bank

By Festus  Akanbi

As stakeholders in the banking sector begin the mobilisation for the take-off of agent banking in various parts of the country,  following the release of the guidelines for new regime of banking by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the management of Mainstreet Bank Limited said at the weekend it  is set to commence Agent Banking to deepen its alignment with CBN’s financial inclusion strategy and to enhance the penetration of its banking services to the un-banked public in a cost effective manner.

In a statement issued by the bank, the Executive Director, Operations & IT, Anogwi Anyanwu, said that the bank has put in place a roadmap and commenced the process of engaging potential partner agents as well as capable service providers.

“We believe that this scheme is in tandem with the transformation agenda of the bank which among other things includes making banking services available to a great number of the citizenry who are un-banked,” he said.

He further stated that “There are various strategic initiatives already running in the bank which will boost the agent banking scheme.  With the robust FINACLE core banking platform that the bank is migrating to, the bank will have the capacity to support the scheme. We also have a strong and effective enterprise risk management framework which will ensure that approved agents comply with our operating procedures and regulatory requirements to needed services to our customers.”

He added that the agent banking foray complements the bank’s suite of new liability products and services, and will further extend the reach of the bank’s offerings.