Banking industry events in 2022 were reviewed by Nume Ekeghe. He thus identifies innovation as a key factor in transforming the sector.

For the banking sector in Nigeria, the last year was quite difficult, as several policies as well as the global tightening of benchmark interest rates tested profitability and encouraged them to be more innovative. The year 2022 was supposed to be the year of recovery, after the consequences of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. But the Russian-Ukrainian war had put pressure on prices globally. This caused a new surge in inflation, which in turn forced central banks to raise interest rates.

Innovations were implemented during the year. These include the RT200 FX program, which aims to generate $200 billion in foreign exchange inflows into the country through non-oil exports over a period of three to five years. It gives a discount of 35 or 65 naira to exporters whose entries enter the country through the importers and exporters window and who sell on the market. Also, there are the new Naira bills. With the newly redesigned N200, N500, and N1 000 banknotes released on 15 December and the old bills expected to be out of circulation by 31 January 2023, the CBN introduced the full implementation of the cashless policy.