The Sustainable and Inclusion Digital Financial Services (SIDFS) of Lagos Business School has been chosen to participate as a survey partner in the Global COVID-19 Fintech Market Rapid Assessment Survey.
Organised by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) at the University of Cambridge, in partnership with the World Bank Group and the World Economic Forum, the survey will collect and analyse timely data related to the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the FinTech Industry.
The assessment survey will help to understand which fintech companies are best able to adapt to the pandemic and which are under threat. According to CCAF, it will “capture responses from 15,000 FinTech firms in over 190 countries around the world with the support of over 150 industry associations and FinTech ecosystem partners.”
LBS Faculty and SIDFS Team Lead, Professor Olayinka David-West will be steering the course of the research in Nigeria. She has led several research projects, conferences and discussions on technology, digital payments and other critical aspects of the Financial Services ecosystem in Nigeria and Africa.
“The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the financial services industry in significant ways. In response, the Nigerian financial services ecosystem would also evolve, by reviewing business operations, practices and processes while also exploring new product development techniques to serve a consumer base that has also been impacted by the pandemic. The COVID-19 Fintech Market Rapid Assessment Survey will provide relevant insights that will inform decision-making among financial service stakeholders and better position FinTechs for the days ahead, even as the world transitions into its new reality of a COVID-19 world. This initiative is well-timed, and I am thrilled to be a part of it” said David-West.
The survey which targets companies in FinTech and Digital Financial Services (DFS) markets will run till July 30, 2020. Set to be published in the third quarter of the year, the report will aid FinTech industries and DFS providers to position themselves better to cushion the impact of COVID-19 and to seek opportunities to scale and expand.
The SIDFS is a university-based research and advocacy initiative with the goal of creating an inclusive ecosystem for financial services. Through focused research as well as active engagement with all stakeholders in the industry, the Initiative furthers the case for financial inclusion.
