2018 AFF: UK Restates Commitment to Supporting Africa’s Fintech Ecosystem

Thursday, December 06  2018  06.53AM / Ottoabasi Abasiekong, Proshare WebTV

The United Kingdom has restated its commitment to supporting the development of the growth and development of Africa’s Fintech ecosystem. 

British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria Laure Beaufils shared this at the 2018 Africa Fintech Festival in Lagos.

The British Envoy said as Europe’s Fintech capital, the United Kingdom was ready through its partnership with Africa, to support the development of the industry in the region. 

Speaking further Mrs Beaufils identified the three areas which formed the thrust of the UK’s assistance to the African Fintech Industry, namely;

• Providing seed funding to African Fintech Startups
  
• Providing support in the area of regulatory frameworks for the Africa Fintech Industry
  
• Strengthening the UK-Africa Fintech Group partnership.
  

She asserted  that through a vibrant Fintech industry, Africa can achieve scale in digital financial services and also address the gaps in Financial Inclusion.

 According to Enhancing Financial Access EFInA Nigeria is a financial sector development organization, that UK-DFID has funded to provide grants to budding and promising Fintech Start-ups. 

Highlights of the Day 3 session of the Africa Fintech Festival, was the official signing of a memorandum of understanding between the African Fintech Network and the Fintech Circle, United Kingdom. 

Dr Segun Aina, OFR signed on the AFN while Susanne Chishti signed on behalf of Fintech Circle, UK. 

The MOU will provide AFN members with the opportunity of accessing quality fintech education. 

Day 3 of the Africa Fintech Festival, which was the final day of the conference featured the following panel sessions; 

• Collaborations between Banks and Fintechs
  
• Artificial Intelligence-The Wave of the Future
  
• Insurtech: Micro-Insurance Technology and the Africa Marketplace
  
• Deepening The Financial Sector: Time for Growth
  
• Using Disruption or Innovation to Promote Financial Inclusion
  
• Leveraging Tech to propel Financial Inclusion to the next level
  
• Agri-Tech
  
• Mitigating Cybersecurity Threats
  
• How Tertiary Instructions can serve as a breeding ground for driving innovation in Fintech
  
• Blockchain-Beyond Crypto and its Strategic Value to Businesses.
  

In his presentation on “Use Cases of Fintech in Nigeria”  Mr Salami Abolore CEO of Riby Finance identified USSD, Mobile/Web and Agent as the next three big things that will shape fintech in the country. 

The Chairman Board of EFInA Mr Segun Akerele gave stakeholders an insight into the "Funding Disruption-Insights from EFInA's Fintech Fund".

Related Video

Related News

1.    Pre Event 2018 Africa Fintech Festival: Startups Pitch Ideas

2.    Africa Fintech Network Initiative Appoints Interim Council to Drive Ecosystem

3.    Fintech Africa - Working Together

4.     Disruption and Innovation - Presentation At The FintechNG Retreat by Dr Andrew Nevin of PwC Nigeria

5.    AI in Fintech – Current Applications and Use Cases

6.    E-Settlement Partners SERIATE For Acquisition and Deployment of 20,000 mPOS

7.    Winds of Change: The Case for New Digital Currency

8.    SEC Nigeria CMC Inaugurates FinTech Roadmap Committee

9.    Collaboration Is Key to Making Nigeria a Reference Point in Fintech -AdeRemi Atanda

10.   #FintechNGRSocialMeet3-Stakeholders Harp On Collaboration Between Banks And Fintechs

11.  FINTECH Nigeria Social Meet 3.0 to Hold on November 1, 2018

12.   How The Rules of The Game Are Changing in Africa’s Banking Sector

13.  The World Federation Of Exchanges Responds To Global Financial Network (GFIN) Consultation

14.   FirstBank To Host FinTech Summit on Oct 17 - The Future of Banking – the Role of AI and Big Data

15.  Britain Can Become The Natural Global Home For Fintech