Global financial inclusion company Oradian has entered into a partnership with ANMFIN (Association of Non-Bank Microfinance Institution of Nigeria) to roll out a new cloud-based microfinance solution in Nigeria.

ANMFIN Cloud Express, a core banking system, is a cloud-based toolset targeted at the smaller Nigerian microfinance institution. It has been added to the portfolio of solutions offered via Oradian within the West African country.

According to the partners, the alliance will enable ANMFIN to promote access to financial services for Nigerian clients on a larger scale.

They also say the solution will help microfinance institutions better manage client relationships, transactions, portfolio management and reporting on the same level that larger financial institutions do – but at a lower cost.

"We are removing the barriers that prevent MFIs from using the right technology to serve their clients and to strengthen their operations," said Onyeka Adibeli, Oradian's Programme Director for Africa.

The main objective is to make financial services more accessible to rural communities, the companies claim.

Princess Adesola Ogunleye, President of ANMFIN, said, "The partnership will enable all of our MFIs to move to Oradian's cloud-based solution, helping our members to save time and money through more efficient, digitised processes - no more manual input of data. We and our members are very excited to improve administrative process, reduce high operational costs and offer digital financial services across the country."

Antonio Separovic, CEO of Oradian, added, "Nigeria was Oradian's first market when we started Oradian six years ago and we remain committed to solving the financial inclusion challenge here. This partnership is a long-term partnership that is an important step towards this goal".

Nigeria continues to make headlines for the advent of FinTech, mobile money platforms and relevant systems.

In early June 2018 ITWeb Africa reported that The World Bank estimates that in 2017 alone Nigeria received over US$22 billion in remittances, making it the largest recipient in Africa.

It has also been reported that there are more electronic payment initiatives being introduced in Nigeria and according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), a total volume of 457, 226, 406 transactions valued at N32.48 trillion was recorded in Q1 2018.