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- 80% of Agent’s business negatively impacted
- 73% profit margin
- 72% of Agents afraid of getting infected
The 2020 Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA) Financial Services Agent Survey has revealed that 6 out of 10 agents run out of cash usually weekly, while 66% do not have access to loans to balance their float.
This was disclosed at a recent EFInA Financial Services Agent Survey 2020 Dissemination Webinar with the theme: Managing the Impact of Covid-19 and Repositioning Your Business for Growth.
The report which is the third in a series of surveys aims to gain a better understanding of financial services agents’ operations; the challenges they face in providing financial services; their motivation for becoming agents; and their perceptions of how to increase the uptake and usage of agent services.
The survey featured a sample size of 1618 financial service agents that were randomly selected based on the proportion of agents per region and provider type.
The virtual event which was moderated by Ashley Immanuel (Head of Programmes at EFInA) had distinguished panellists that comprised of: Ronke Kuye (CEO, SANEF), Emmanuel Agha (CEO, Innovectives Inc), Jude Anele (GH, Consumer & Retail Banking, UBA) and Henry Chukwu (Programme Specialist, Agent Networks at EFInA).
In her opening remarks, Ashley Immanuel provided lots of insights on the objectives and importance of the survey in driving the deployment of sustainable agent networks to increase the uptake/usage of agent services in Nigeria and the lessons learnt from previous surveys.
While sharing from their personal experiences, the panellists provided deep insights on the survey findings, especially on the decline observed in the percentage of account opening by agents compared to previous years, the high percentage of profitable standalone agents which is contrary to the CBN guide on Agent Banking and other outliers noticed from the survey.
During his presentation, the Programme Specialist, Agent Networks at EFInA, Henry Chukwu noted that the findings of the survey revealed that failed transactions and issues with provider platforms are the top challenges faced by agents. More than half of the agents interviewed were relatively new to the business (6 months up to 1 year) and requested hand-holding from principals to solve some of the challenges faced. Other aspects of the presentation revealed information on Business Operations Dynamics, Agent Pricing & Economics, Float Management as well as Support Received from Providers.
The presentation also featured information from the survey EFInA conducted on the Impact of Covid-19 on Agents’ Operation to understand the impact of the pandemic on agents’ business. The findings showed that the agents are not adequately supported by their providers/principals. Only 8% claimed to have received support from Financial Service Providers (FSPs) since the pandemic began. In addition, 80% of the agents surveyed reported that their businesses have been negatively impacted by the pandemic. However, despite bad business conditions and little or no support received from principals, the agents reported that they are still willing to render support beyond their primary business to aid the fight against the spread.
Finally, Ashley Immanuel Head of Programmes at EFInA launched the brochure on Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Agent Banking which was produced by EFInA to support the industry in creating more awareness about agent banking and to close the knowledge gap that exists around agent banking.
About EFInA
Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA) is a financial sector development organisation that promotes financial inclusion in Nigeria. Established in late 2007, the mission is to make the Nigerian financial system work better, especially for the poor. EFInA works through four pillars: Capacity Building & Advocacy, Research, Innovation and Digital finance.
EFInA is funded by UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
© Regtech Africa 2020
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