Appzone Pushes For Blockchain Usage In Bank Dispute Resolution

A Fintech Software Engineering  Firm, Appzone, has called on banks to adopt blockchain technology for enhanced visibility and transparency in resolving customer-financial-institutional disputes.

According to Uche Elendu, co-founder of Appzone, it was necessary due to the rising rate of fraud and dispute claims between clients and financial institutions in Nigeria.

He explained that the implementation of blockchain technology was not solely for the purpose of decentralising the process of moving money from one bank to another.

Elendu believes it will improve the procedure's transparency and visibility.

“As more Nigerians get financially included, customers have continued to move away from cash and checks toward electronic payments,” he said.

He described the trend as a positive development for banks and the Nigerian Central Bank (CBN).

According to him, as the number of disputable transactions and the incidence of fraud rises with card and online transactions, so does the number of disputable transactions and the incidence of fraud, putting strain on dispute resolution processes.

“Financial institutions across the continent have continued to evolve, leveraging technology.

‘’They have metamorphosed from the days of a heavy analogue process to a more digitised era.

‘’With the continuous increase in the volume of banking transactions, it remains pertinent to continuously adopt newer and more sophisticated technology infrastructure to remain dependable, especially with payment settlements.

“For us at Appzone, we are firm believers in blockchain technology,” he said.

He added that because it is decentralised, it is not only faster, cheaper, and more transparent, but it is also smart enough to allow real-time settlement.

According to Elendu, since the launch of Zone - Africa's first blockchain platform for payment processing in 2021, partner banks that have been onboarded have witnessed a significant improvement in their payment settlement process.

Appzone's novel architecture, he added, would reduce consumer complaints while also allowing banks to create great experiences across payment channels while lowering costs.

Appzone is Africa's first decentralised payment network, according to Elendu, and was built in conjunction with Appzone's recent transformation into a payment infrastructure company.

According to him, this permits inter-bank transactions to be completed directly between banks on the blockchain without the use of a middleman.

Appzone, he claims, will provide the sector with a dependable and scalable payment network that would enable frictionless and rapid payments within and between African countries.

The Appzone Layer-1 Blockchain network digitises Fiat payments and allows for the transition to digital currencies while also linking previously excluded financial institutions into a single payment ecosystem.