First City Monument Bank, one of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions, is now a member of the Open Banking Nigeria, an industry-focused non-profit body facilitating the advocacy, development and adoption of a common standard for open Application Programming Interface within the Nigerian financial ecosystem.

With this development, FCMB has formally joined more than 50 other individual and corporate members across the financial industry, including banks, fintechs, financial consultants, global customer service leaders, among other stakeholders as an integral part of Open Banking Nigeria.

Open banking is a concept aimed at enhancing the capability of operators in the financial industry and allied institutions to drive and deepen innovation through access to more customer-authorised information and data.

In Nigeria, it will result in far greater end-users satisfaction, help the various stakeholders thrive, boost collaboration and inspire more innovation.

In addition, the adoption of the concept would create a new data sharing infrastructure among financial institutions, which will go a long way towards enriching the range of services and products that would emerge from operators.

Commenting on FCMB’s membership of Open Banking Nigeria, the Divisional Head, Transaction Banking of the Bank, Rolayo Akhigbe, said: “As an institution focused on the attainment of enhanced customer experience and a more productive as well as impactful business environment, our membership of Open Banking Nigeria reinforces our commitment to the delivery of exceptional services.

“We are optimistic that this would also upscale our operations and ultimately enable us align with the aspirations of our customers.”

Also commenting, the Team Lead, Banking As A Service of FCMB, Isi Nweje, stated: “As always, we are receptive to partnering with the drivers of initiatives that advance the development of Nigeria's financial services industry to greater heights, while also enabling and fast-tracking growth across other sectors of the economy.”

A Trustee of Open Banking Nigeria, Ope Adeoye, said: “It is a delight to welcome FCMB to the fold. We anticipate working together for a standardised API-led system that would facilitate the growth, accessibility and viability of numerous cross-industry initiatives which would stem from Nigeria’s financial ecosystem.”

Established in 2017 to define and develop these open and non-partisan APIs, Open Banking Nigeria serves as a platform where industry players jointly champion a progressive cause for the benefit of the country and, by extension, the African continent.

First City Monument Bank is a member of FCMB Group Plc, one of the leading financial services institutions in Nigeria with subsidiaries that are market leaders in their respective segments.

With a clear understanding of its market and environment, the bank has successfully transformed to a retail banking and wealth management led group.

It has also continued to distinguish itself through innovation and the delivery of exceptional services, while enhancing the growth and achievement of the personal and business aspirations of customers.

Update news