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Experts from Kora, Finextra, Binance, Yoco and six other companies share research-based ideas, hard-won lessons and analyse the developing patterns that are driving Africa’s fintech evolution.
Kora, the pan-African payment infrastructure and Finextra; financial technology news and information platform, have joined forces to present a comprehensive analysis of Africa’s economic landscape in a white paper titled “The Future of Fintech in Africa, 2023.”
In this collaborative report, experts from Kora, Finextra, Binance, Yoco and six other companies share research-based ideas, hard-won lessons and analyse the developing patterns that are driving Africa’s fintech evolution.
From the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the revolutionising impact of Blockchain and Cloud technologies on cross-border payments, the report provides valuable insights for businesses and investors across the continent.
According to the report, “AI is assuming an increasingly important role in traditional banking as it provides technologies such as voice recognition, natural language processing, and computer vision for user-account management and fraud detection, machine learning methods and deep learning networks for anti-money-laundering and credit modeling.”
With tools like ChatGPT emerging, financial institutions and fintech firms alike must review how they are using AI across their systems, and more importantly, how it is being leveraged to serve the customer and whether these individuals trust the services that are built using these technologies.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in AI-related startups and national AI advancements in Africa. The continent as a whole faces issues with large geographic swathes and population segments which remain undigitised, resulting in a huge unbanked population.
However, there are innovations in progress to tackle social, financial, and economic challenges facing African nations. AI Media Group South Africa determined in a 2022 report that 2,400 companies were listed as AI-focused, and 40% were founded in the last five years.
This marks the rapid development of AI within the continent. South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Ghana are where AI development in the continent has been developed to the largest extent, as the tech sector is not a national priority in countries where there is no method for data collection or data privacy and to equip AI technologies with infrastructure and governance.
The graph below demonstrates that South Africa is leading in AI-focused companies in Africa. There is also a large disparity between AI startups in different nations, as seen by 726 companies in South Africa which specialise in AI, with the rest of the countries with less than 500 companies that are AI-focused.
Source: Quartz
“We are excited to present ‘The Future of Fintech in Africa 2023’ in collaboration with Finextra,” said Dickson Nsofor, CEO at Kora. “This white paper reflects our commitment to advancing the financial landscape in Africa and empowering businesses in the fintech industry.”
“Africa has witnessed significant progress in the financial technology sector, with the value of mobile transactions increasing 25 times over the last decade. The whitepaper suggests ideas towards building on this growth and realizing Africa’s vision of a truly unified continent; enhancing trade, and economic maturity.” said Ayodeji Osisami, COO at Kora.
Commenting on the partnership, Madhvi Mavadiya, Head of Content at Finextra, stated, “The future of fintech in Africa holds immense potential and transformative opportunities. Through our joint efforts with Kora, the Future of Fintech in Africa 2023 report presents a comprehensive view of the region’s fintech evolution, highlighting the disruptive technologies and regulatory insights that will shape its path forward.”
The white paper can be downloaded from: https://korahq.com/future-of-fintech
Kora is a pan-African payment infrastructure offering a robust payment API for payment collections, disbursements, and settlements for businesses accepting payments in and from Africa.
Finextra is the specialist financial technology (fintech) news and information source. Finextra offers over 100,000 fintech news, features and TV content items to visitors.
