By Kebba Ansu Manneh
“Nafa” Financial Services, one of the country’s local financial institutions on Saturday launched its new digital financial platform in a bid to enhance access to financial transactions in a digital system.
The launching which was presided over by the Governor of the Central Bank, Buah Saidy welcomed the initiative, saying the initiative will accord access to finance, and digitalise the system which is in line with his institutions.
He urged other financial institutions to also emulate the unwavering commitment of the institution in promoting access to financial services through digitalisation.
He added: “The launching of this application could not have come at a better time as digitalization of financial services is considered one of the missing links in the delivery of financial services in our beloved country. The Central Bank of the Gambia is committed to changing the digital landscape of this country with Gam-Swift interconnectivity between institutions, it will take small steps like this to bring about digital transformation.”
Governor Saidy also appealed to other financial institutions in the country to rise up to the challenge by exploring the connectivity with Gam-swift without delay, adding that digital wallets have the potential to accelerate the financial institutions as the number of mobile users far overweight those with bank accounts.
“Access to finance is a vital human right that should be accorded to everybody irrespective of their age, gender, income ethnicity, or religious inclination. I call on all financial institutions to embrace the objective of financial systems interoperability as envisaged in the national financial inclusion strategy,” he observed.
Stephen Abban, Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank hailed the leadership and management of “Nafa” Financial Services for their commitment and resilience in transforming the financial landscape of the country, noting that “MyNafa” Wallet has been uniquely designed to bridge the gap between those financially excluded part of the Gambia and the financial services.
He observed that the platform is designed to make life easy for mobile users who can easily download the application and operate it by themselves without any difficulties, adding that the Nafa Wallet application will avail customers the opportunities to receive remittances as well as link their wallets to their bank account for an easy financial transaction without physically going to the banks.
“I can say there is no better way of achieving digitalising financial inclusion than this solution (MyNafa Wallet) application,” Access Bank CEO emphasized.
According to him, the partnership between Access Bank and “Nafa” Financial Services is based on mutual trust, honesty, and transparency and is designed to extend financial services to excluded Gambians, noting that the launching of the platform epitomizes the significance of a partnership to the lives and livelihoods of Gambian by making access to finance easy and untiring.
In her opening statement, Halimatou Jallow, Chief Executive Officer of “Nafa” Financial Services gave a brief history of the institution which she said was created in 2014 with the sole objective of providing remittance services for customers both at home and abroad.
The company she added has over two thousand outlets throughout the country.
CEO Jallowalso revealed the strategic objectives of the company which is to become the ideal partner for Gambians by providing convenient channels for seamless transactions, stressing that the company is currently registered in seven (7) countries with more than thirty thousand (30, 000) payout locations in the African continent.
Madam Jallow also highlighted some of the difficulties experience by customers to access financial services in some remote places of the country which according to her compel the institution to come up with such an initiative.
