L-r: Thaibat Adeniran, former Managing Director, Hilal Takaful Insurance Ltd; Mr Johnson Chukwuma, keynote speaker/founder & Managing Director, Cowry Asset Management Ltd; Alhaji (Dr). Umaru Kwairanga, Chairman of occasion/Group Chairman, Nigerian Exchange Group; Ngozi Onyakusi, convener & Publisher/CEO, SUPERNEWS Nigeria; Ayokunle Olubunmi, Head, Financial Institutions Ratings, Augusto & Co; Adeola Adewumi-Zer, founder/CEO, ZER Consulting Africa, and Uju Ogubunka, National President, Bank Customers Association of Nigeria, during the AI Artificial Intelligence ’25 conference organised by SuperNews on the theme: Power of AI: enhancing efficiency and customer satisfaction for better financial services experience, in Lagos, on Thursday.
Yemisi Izuora
The Chairman of NGX Group, Alhaji (Dr.) Umaru Kwairanga, has said that Nigeria’s readiness to harness AI for national development, is already driving growth in various sectors of the economy.
Kwairanga, said currently the country’s mobile banking has expanded rapidly, now reaching 39 per cent of adults and generating over 10.7 billion transactions in 2023, up from just 315 million in 2019.
This growth is powered by a young, tech-savvy population and the innovation of local fintech players, creating fertile ground for AI-driven financial services, while digital platforms are approving loans within minutes by harnessing alternative data and AI, eliminating cumbersome paperwork and expanding access.
Speaking at SUPERNEWS 2025 Artificial Intelligence conference in Lagos, the Chairman, notes that in a country where financial inclusion remains a critical priority, this is more than convenience, it is meaningful progress.
The theme for today’s conference, “Power of AI: Enhancing Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction for Better Financial Services Experience”,
“As we reflect on AI’s role in reshaping financial services, we must also consider its potential to advance broader goals such as sustainable development.
“At NGX Group, sustainability is not just a catchphrase, it is central to who we are. We see Artificial Intelligence not only as a tool for improving operational
efficiency but as a powerful enabler of sustainable finance. AI allows us to deepen our impact through innovations such as green bonds, climate risk reporting, and financing for inclusive, long-term growth.
It empowers investors and issuers to align capital flows with development goals and to make decisions that reflect global best practices and the Sustainable Development Goals.”
He went further to say, “Through initiatives like NGX Invest, we have digitised the investment journey, making capital markets more accessible to retail investors and creating inclusive platforms that meet the expectations of adigital-first generation. The government’s commitment to responsible AI development, exemplified by the recent launch of the AI Scaling Hub with support from the Gates Foundation, further underscores Nigeria’s readiness to harness AI for national development, from education and healthcare to agriculture.”
According to him, AI’s potential extends beyond customer interfaces to transforming back-office operations, adding, “By automating repetitive tasks such as data entry, KYC processes, compliance monitoring, and transaction processing, AI delivers measurable productivity gains while reducing errors. As the IMF notes, AI- enabled systems enhance price discovery and strengthen market integrity, both essential to building investor trust.”
Kwairanga said that “At NGX Group, we see significant opportunities for AI to reinforce market operations. Enhanced trade surveillance powered by AI allows for more precise detection of market abuse, while intelligent analytics support better-informed decision-making by investors, issuers, and regulators. AI can improve transparency, sharpen disclosure monitoring, and strengthen market integrity, all vital for sustaining investor confidence.
Yet as we embrace AI’s promise, we must also recognise the responsibilities that come with AI adoption.”
He warned that the rise of AI increases our exposure to cyber threats, with the financial sector facing a growing share of such attacks, and urged that “Strengthening cybersecurity and operational risk management is imperative, particularly as reliance on third-party AI solutions expands.”
Moreover, international regulators stress the need for human oversight to complement AI automation.
AI may enhance efficiency, but human judgment must remain central to critical decisions, he advised.
This calls for significant investment in workforce development. While more professionals are acquiring AI-related skills, demand still outpaces supply, presenting both a challenge and an opportunity to upskill and
empower our people so that technology augments rather than replaces human capability.
He also said that collaboration across sectors is also crucial to ensure AI governance frameworks protect the interests of consumers, investors, and markets, add added that Global standard-setting bodies like the Financial Stability Board, ESMA, and IOSCO are leading the way, and Nigeria must align with these efforts to foster trust and stability.
He said the NGX Group remains deeply committed to these principles. We continue to explore how AI and other advanced technologies can help us build a capital market that is efficient, resilient, inclusive, and future-ready.
In her speech, Publisher of Supernews, Ngozi Onyeakusi, said, the publications choice of the theme was borne out of its quest to contribute its quota in equipping Nigerians with requisite knowledge in embracing tech innovations. Artificial intelligence (AI) adoption has the capacity to transform the Nigerian financial sector.
AI technology, according to experts, has gained so much popularity in businesses that analysts put global business value earned through artificial intelligence at $3.9 trillion in 2022, from $1.2 trillion in 2018.
The technology is believed to be capable of facilitating financial inclusion, thus bridging the gap between the masses and financial services, helping to bring these services closer to the people seamlessly.
