Highlights

This event was attended by Mrs. Vera Lum Songwe, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Mr. Oliver Chinganya, Director of African Center for Statistics and pin charge of the Division for Technology, Climate and Natural Resources at ECA, Mrs. Lilia Naas hachem, Regional Director of North Africa at ECA, Mr. Segum Aina, President of the African Fintech Network, as well as representatives of the private sector in Nigeria and South Africa.

Given the fact that approximately 60% of the African population qualified to have access to financial services is unbanked, the purpose of this panel was to discuss the role of financial technology companies and digital identification systems in improving access to financial products and certainly strengthening financial inclusion. It also provides an opportunity to focus on the role of financial technology and access to financial services in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Africa Agenda 2063.

During this panel, the Moroccan experience was highlighted in relation particularly to the efforts of public and private actors to speed up financial inclusion and its role as a lever for economic and social development. Attention was also drawn to the initiatives launched in recent years to support the ecosystem of start-ups that might speed up the Fintechs to promote the emergence of new models that seem to be more able to meet the needs of different social groups and businesses.

Finally, this event was the occasion to launch, under the chairmanship of Mrs. Vera Lum Songwe, the new initiative on the establishment of the first African network of Fintech.