In Nigeria coupled with other developing nations, the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) has hitherto been conspicuously giving its teeming users a nightmare, that, a drastic approach is seriously required by the apt authorities towards tactically addressing the quagmire.

Without equivocations, the conundrum – pertaining to Financial Technology (FinTech) – possesses the tendency of constituting a colossal economic mayhem to the totality of contemporary Nigerian society, particularly the banking sector.

Tremendous effort needs to be put in place regarding the existing use of ATMs in the acclaimed giant of Africa. There’s a compelling need for greater accurate and efficient technical know-how in the country’s banking industry as regards the operation of the said device.

Technical irregularities or hitches such as out of service, temporarily unable to dispense cash, issuer or switch inoperative, and unreasonable seizing/withholding of transaction cards, among others, which are often encountered while using the machine, must be addressed headlong.

The ridiculous technical anomalies to include debiting an account without any withdrawal made by the owner, is the most devastating aspect of the ongoing ATM lapses in Nigeria and her likes. This implies the country is yet to fully key into FinTech.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which serves as the mother-bank of all commercial banks in the country, is expected to intervene especially at this period we are suffering from an enormous economic crisis. Hence, enabling policies ought to be aptly implemented into the sector for healthier banking practices.

The teeming bank account owners have suffered greatly, thus are in need of the onward intervention of the apex bank towards ensuring the country’s dream of seeing an arena filled with thorough cashless banking is duly actualized in the nearest future.

Among all, the routine of loading torn or mutilated currency notes in the ATMs must be put to stop by the CBN. How could notes meant to be burnt or replaced be loaded in the machines? This unethical practice invariably create an avenue for frequent circulation of eyesores?

The anomaly has ostensibly informed the general public that the Nigeria’s Mint and Printing section is incapacitated. This sums up the fact that her technology is unarguably in a sorry state.

The remedy to Nigeria’s tech issues lies in her hand, hence has all it takes to fix the hitch. The concerned authorities, therefore, must wake up to the realities rather than chasing shadows.

The various branches that are currently making use of only one ATM must as a matter of urgency install at least two or more ones in order to decongest the banking premises with a view to curtailing the chances of being invaded or attacked by armed robbers. Armed robbery is an unlawful activity that has remained the biggest challenge faced by the banking industry, thus ought to be checked at all cost.

The banks ought to equally, from time to time, update the softwares used for the said machines as well as their central server. It is appalling to realize that most of them are still making use of outdated or trivial softwares. It’s unequivocally high time this mediocre practice is jettisoned.

Against this backdrop, every bank is expected to see its Information Technology (IT) unit as one of the most needed units in the firm, so its viability would be sustained by all means. Such a step would enable the bank to at all times ensure that employing or engaging competent and reliable IT professionals, either as full staff or consultants, as the case may be, isn’t compromised.

It’s pertinent to note that most of these challenges are usually occasioned by ignorance on the part of the bearers of the ATM cards. Most users of the card in question are yet to acknowledge that the card is not meant to be kept close to electronic devices or any device that possesses a magnetic field such as the radio set, television, handset, computers, laptop, home theatre, speakers, VCD/DVD, or what have you, especially when they are on or in use. A practice of such is liable to permanently stop the activeness of the affected card.

Similarly, the users are meant to comprehend that the cards are meant to be safeguarded from any iota of scratch or drop of water, particularly on its silver-coated part. Hence, it must be consistently kept away from any metal element, or related materials, that could hurt their surfaces. They should also be kept away from rainfall and allied natural substances.

Inter alia, if any part of the card bends, the bearer or owner may not be able to have access to his or her account via the ATM. If anyone eventually succeeded in doing so, he or she might not be able to retrieve the card from the machine after the transaction. This is a phenomenon the bearers must be meant to acknowledge.

To this end, the banks’ Customer Service units are required to duly orientate their clients the moment they pick the cards as well as ensure they are regularly sensitized in this regard. They ought to be meant to understand that the debit/credit cards are to be thoroughly pampered in order to keep them away from any possible harm.

The IT department of every bank, therefore, ought to invariably take this coaching aspect as priority. The orientation session concerning the use of the ATM cards is required to be organized by every bank branch on a regular basis toward averting any possible embarrassment that might befall the users.

The CBN, or the mother bank of any concerned country, really needs to take an urgent and severe step with a view to ending the various lingering irregularities faced or practised by the commercial banks in regard to the use of the ATM.

It’s noteworthy that failure to do the needful would give the lingering technical menace a chance to constitute an unbearable setback in the nearest future in the country’s financial industry at large.

Those days, FinTech – which is primarily the use of technology across all financial functions – was mainly used for back-office activities by leveraging software to help bank personnel handle accounts, execute transactions, and manage client databases, among others.

But nowadays, the said tech measure has transformed how banks operate. It’s not anymore relegated to the gloomy corners of back offices. It has, therefore, taken centre stage by making itself indispensable to client-facing processes. Now, every needed digital transaction is possible.

So, rather than being mere onlookers of this haven, we as a people need to key in towards enjoying the innumerable benefits attached therein. It’s high time we did the needful.

Lest I forget; aside from inculcating the required tech measures, the government or relevant authority must create formidable and apt policies to facilitate the proposed move. The needed policies shall serve as the wheel while the required tech approach would be the vehicle to convey the passengers to the destination. Mind you, a vehicle with a bad wheel can’t move an inch.

The role of mobility in the FinTech revolution cannot be overemphasized. Hence, the financial institutions needn’t be reminded of the need to, in earnest, key into the proposed measure.

The message from the Governor:

“The only exchange rate market is the Investors and Exporters window, which is the market that we expect everybody that wants to buy or sell dollars to use.

“I am sorry to say: I do not recognise any other market. We’ve asked ourselves at the CBN, why did we have to wait so long?

“CBN remained the only central bank in the world to dip its hands into our commonwealth mad pack dollars to BDCs all in an effort to stabilise the exchange rate,”

• CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele during the Monetary Policy Council meeting which was held today, Friday, September 17, 2021.

The situation of Evergrande, a Chinese property conglomerate that has been in the news for months over the financial crisis, has spiraled, contagiously spreading like a virus across markets around the world.

But as the Evergrande crisis rattles economies, it shows the level of impact Chinese companies can exert globally, and inadvertently presents China with its most challenging economic crisis in recent times.

Evergrande is China’s second-biggest real estate developer, but in a debt mess of $300 billion owed to contractors, investors and home buyers. The company is afraid it will default on its payment of about $100 million due Thursday, and has warned investors that it isn’t sure of anything even though it’s hoping to get around the crisis with the help of newly hired financial advisers. The shares of the property conglomerate has been plummeting following the financial woes, now it is extending to other markets including bitcoin.

Edward Moya, senior market analyst of the Americas at Oanda, wrote in a note to clients on Monday that the impact of Evergrande on bitcoin shouldn’t surprise anyone, after all, it’s no different from other assets.

“The fallout from the Evergrande is putting a tremendous dent in risk appetite that is sending everything lower.

“So it should not surprise Wall Street they are the first asset sold in the beginning of China-driven market selloff,” as investors aim to cash in, he added.

Shares of Evergrande fell 5.7% in Hong Kong on Tuesday, extending Monday’s losses of 10.2% lower in Hong Kong on Monday, a slight recovery after being down 19% in the morning, hitting an 11-year low.

Bitcoin has been rallying out of the biggest crash in years that saw billions wiped off in investment, triggering a massive selloff that plummeted the value of the cryptocurrency market by more than a half. Last month, bitcoin hit $50,000 again after weeks of crawling between $30,000 and $40,000. Though it dropped below $50,000 shortly after, the recovery rekindled the hope of investors who have been betting on the projection that bitcoin will hit $100,000 before the end of the year.

Other cryptocurrencies aren’t spared either. Ethereum and dogecoin have each declined 4.4% and about 6%, respectively, in the past 24 hours.

The Evergrande virus got the strength to rip through the world’s economy through the massive amount of money it borrowed. Now investors are afraid that the exposure that banks might have to Evergrande and companies like it will wreak further havoc on markets.

Other large Hong Kong property stocks such as New World Development and Henderson Land were also seeing double-figure drops in their prices on Monday. US banks are also affected. Goldman Sach (GS) and JPMorgan (JPM) registered among the Dow’s worst performers.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 466.43 points, or 1.35%, to 34,118.45, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 65.12 points, or 1.47%, to 4,367.87 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 267.52 points, or 1.78%, to 14,776.45 on Monday.

Hong Kong markets have been severely caught in the mess as Chinese banks, insurers and other real estate companies take hits. The energy and solid minerals markets got hit too. In Australia, the benchmark ASX200 index closed down 2.1% on Monday afternoon as investors dumped mining stocks such as BHP and Rio.

The price of iron ore, Australia’s main export, fell 60% to below $100 a tonne from its high point in May.

In Europe, mining stocks were badly hit. Stock markets fell on Monday morning, with the FTSE 100 index dropping 1.75%, or 120 points, to 6842, a two-month low.

The selloff on Monday, triggered by Evergrande, has seen a cumulative $2.2 trillion of value being wiped off the market capitalization of world equities from a record high of $97 trillion hit on Sept. 6, according to Refinitiv data.

“Any downturn in China would have significant implications for commodities demand given its status as the world’s largest consumer of many minerals and metals. The situation also has uncomfortable echoes of 2015 when fears about Chinese debt prompted a big and broad-based market correction, said the AJ Bell investment director, Russ Mould.

Though US stocks are seeing a comeback on Tuesday as investors meet with the Feds and central banks across countries hold meetings in hope of making tightening decisions, concerns remain. Beijing has been uncomfortably silent, and without China’s intervention, Evergrande has little to zero chance in meeting its debt obligation on Thursday. And that means, the global economy still reeling from the shocks of the pandemic, will have a new crisis to contain.

Analysts say that, while leaders are looking to curb excessive risk-taking, they will probably work to prevent the issue from becoming unmanageable.

“The central government’s priority of social stability makes restructuring likely with haircuts for debt holders, but spillovers to other listed property developers means there will likely be a real economic impact on the real estate sector,” said National Australia Bank’s Tapas Strickland.

“To what extent Evergrande slows the growth momentum remains unclear.”

Evergrande was largely impacted by China’s housing reforms, spilling its financial predicament over. The recent crackdown on its tech industry that has seen many of its multibillion dollar companies lose massive value, suggests that China may not lift a finger to the rescue of Evergrande. But as the crisis puts the reputation of the second-largest economy in the world on trial, there may be a change of heart.

Her Excellency, First Lady of Kwara State, Amb Dr Mrs. Olufolake Abdulrahman, and Ajike People Support Centre, sponsored many young people to Tekedia Institute. She was super-thrilled with the outcome of the transformation. Today, a selection of the learners visited her office at Kwara State Government House and presented a Tekedia Institute t-shirt.

By next week, another batch will begin with us as the First Lady wants to sponsor more young people to a school that works.

Photos are photos from the event.

In the 4th week of the current Tekedia Institute Mini-MBA, I will present a special case study on Nigeria’s e-Naira, the evolving new digital currency which the Central Bank of Nigeria is introducing. Besides the e-Naira, we will look at what is happening in India, EU and other domains.

We have the CBN document and are very excited to co-learn on this new currency. The Tang dynasty invented paper currency in 7th century China – and this new currency (extension of electronic currency!) can possibly change many things in decades.

Nigeria’s eNaira Era: New Currency, Technology, Opportunities & Playbook

To be invited to this presentation, join us here.

“The Central Bank in its implementation has ensured the e-Naira feeds our economy and provides greater value.

“The central bank digital currency offers all the benefits of cash but in digital form. Every single digital currency is an electronic version of the cash, the legal tender. When you make a cash payment, settlement is done instantly; digital currencies entail the same promises and even more.

“CBDC offers a safer option from the privately issued cryptocurrency which have been based on the possibility to enable cheaper transactions but have now been used for investment.

“The intention is not to eliminate other forms of payment but to complement the current areas of payment options, thereby ensuring the stability of the payment system in the long run. I expect in the coming days we will see rapid inclusion rates.

“For banks in developing nations, it will enhance their liquidity, efficiency in national remittances and challenge the high cost of remittances as the world rebounds in the post-pandemic. I am of the view that the era of CBDC promotes greater opportunities, and the central bank must be aware of the risks and mitigate them.”

Central Bank of Nigeria Deputy Governor, Operations, Mr Folashodun Shonubi