In the last four months, banks, regulators through the central banks, telcos and fintechs have increasingly worked together to provide financial services to consumer despite restrictions on movement as various African governments continue to implement safety measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Cellulant’s discussion with key players in the financial services sector on the future of Banking could not have come at a better time.
The one and a half-hour webinar discussion titled; Transforming Banking for Africa’s Mobile and Connected Consumer dwelt on various topics including; points of convergence and divergence, the change in omnichannel banking approach beyond owned channels, digital lending, financial inclusion, the gap in sector-based solutioning and the progress by regulators in removing barriers of entry for financial service providers among others.
Webinar: Digital Banking in Africa
Future of Banking Highlights
As noted by Lilian Njuguna, Sr. Platform Product Manager, M-PESA for Business, Safaricom, the point of convergence has been the move towards a mobile money as a platform approach for most organisations which, she noted has enabled customers to access various financial services on their phones.
The point of divergence, however, continues to be the approach towards the customer experience. Most financial Service providers have not gone beyond availing mobile money & payment services. Over time, its become evident that the consumer needs, especially for SMEs, have grown towards seeking financial products that give them access to economic growth.
Yustus Aribariho, Regional Head Digital Banking, Africa and Middle East, Standard Chartered Bank and Kenn Lisudza, Head of Product Development at Cellulant also discussed how omnichannel banking is now going beyond using owned channels such as USSD, mobile and online banking to using the touchpoints where the consumers are spending most of their time be it Instagram, ticktock or WhatsApp.
Is this a glimpse of where banking is headed?
Digitizing Banking in Africa
Africa’s digital banking revolution began with the introduction of mobile banking in 2007 when Cellulant connected the first bank in Kenya to Safaricom’s Mpesa. Since then, Cellulant has continued to build digital banking solutions for Africa’s leading financial institutions.
Today, Cellulant’s payments platform hosts 120 of the largest banks in Africa including Stanchart group, ABSA group, Stanbic Bank, Bank of Africa among others and 40 mobile money operators across 34 countries.
If you would like to get more information on our digital banking solutions, email us on [email protected]
