AppZone lists measures against financial services limitations

TO deepen financial inclusion drive in Nigeria, AppZone, an indigenous banking and payment software solutions firm has proffered measures against challenges identified in the process.
   
With focus on technology solutions, Appzone identified these challenges to include issues with suitability, accessibility, high cost of operations and physical constraints, among others.
   
At a press briefing in Lagos, the Managing Director of the company, Obi Emetarom, noted that there are several financial products that do not address the real needs of customers and that some of the financial products and services are not easily accessible because they are not available everywhere at all times.
   
Emetarom explained that the impact of such limitations on customers has led to the high rate of unbanked and under-banked customers in the society, which he said, is equally affecting the economy of the country, through loss of revenue that is supposed to be generated for government.
   
Mitigating these identified challenges, Emetarom said AppZone has developed several banking and payment software solutions that are currently servicing 15 commercial banks, over 180 microfinance banks, with over 80, 000 transactions daily.
 
Some of its core value offerings include disruptive innovation, agile technology and best practice.
   
According to Emetarom, the disruptive innovation solutions, eliminate barriers to adopt and create customer group, offer significant differential value to target customers, leverage most recent technology operations and regulations, and focus on solving problems core target customers.
   
He said agile technology quickly and easily adapts to client needs, enables clients achieve incremental innovation, with AppZone INVESTING heavily on research and development to achieve agility. Some of its best practice include setting up of dedicated operational function, complete standardisation and documentation, and define procedures for monitoring compliance.
   
Some of its products that are developed locally by Nigerians, include cloud based core banking application, mobile banking solution, branchless banking solution, financial transaction switch, consolidated internet payment gateway, prepaid card management, instant automated card issuance, ATM monitoring solution, among others.
   
Explaining the functionality of some of the solutions, Emetarom said the cloud based core banking application provides end-to-end automation of typical operation in retail financial institutions, including microfinance banks, savings and loans institutions, cooperatives, and mortgage banks.

He described the mobile banking solution as a dynamic menu-based client application that backs end processing and administration system and allows customers remotely complete self-service banking and payment transactions, using multiple application delivery options.
   
According to him, the branchless banking solution is product specific that is delivered as cloud-based shared platform with account opening and mobile teller capabilities as well as option for mobile instant card issuance.
   
“The financial transaction switch is a cloud-based switching platform that processes and routes transactions originating from various electronic terminals and e-channels solutions to various financial institution hosts, while the consolidated internet payment gateway is a web-payment gateway consolidator that allows banks provide internet merchants with the ability to accept payments over the internet from multiple electronic schemes like Visa, Verve, MasterCard, Genesis, via a single central interface. The ATM monitoring solution allows a vendor independent ATM monitoring with categorised graphical display of bank ATMs nationwide.
   
“Some of its solutions that are already developed but are still test-running, include micro-banking cloud solutions, business banking cloud solutions, personal banking cloud solutions, agency banking cloud solutions, andccommerce cloud solutions”, he stated.