Be financially inclusive, while controlling risk
While Africa’s banking penetration rate has been on the rise in recent years – reaching 43% when including mobile money accounts – and financial institutions have continued to provide a fairly adequate level of lending to the economy, the onset of the economic crisis in 2019 has sent risk soaring on a continent where a huge swath of the economy remains informal. What solutions, including technological ones, can best address this sharp rise in risk levels? What role can institutions and states play to limit the damage?
Make good on the promises of the technological revolution
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, Africa had some 400 million mobile money accounts, i.e., nearly half the global total. The current crisis has made the digital transformation of the continent’s major financial institutions even more urgent. How can it be implemented swiftly? What changes does it entail in terms of human organisation? What lessons can African fintech firms, after raising $800m in 2019, teach us about agility?
Anticipate the impact of the AfCFTA
Set to be implemented on 1 January 2021, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is expected to increase intra-African trade to the tune of $35bn per year and to revolutionise the service industry, including the financial services segment. How can the industry prepare for this new reality? What will it actually change for the industry?