Programme

To defend African interests and strengthen its position in the global financial landscape, the African Union convened the continent’s multilateral heavyweights to join the ‘Africa Club’. With its capital of $65 billion, the Africa Club aims to leverage its combined influence to reform the global financial architecture, while encouraging the mobilisation of funds nationally and regionally. Can these efforts at emancipation survive pressure from international institutions seeking to maintain the status quo, or even strip Africa Club members of their privileged creditor status? 

Key points:

• Following 50 years of attempts to reform the international financial architecture, how is Africa now better placed to defend its interests?
• African resource mobilisation: How can global taxation reform, savings rates, and new sources of catalytic capital move the needle? 
• Governance: What strategies can be implemented to promote collaboration among the institutions of the Africa Club? 

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Green bonds have become a widespread practice globally for financing green projects, reaching $588bn in 2023, but bond issuance in Africa remains low ($2bn in 2023), and highly concentrated in a few countries. Last year, the AfDB issued four green bonds totalling $517m, the Tanzanian government issued a $20m bond, and Nedbank issued a green bond of around $118m. Certain governments are taking actions but face an uphill task to mobilise green bond capital. A roundtable of supranational institutions, capital market players, commercial banks and public sector representatives discuss how to accelerate successful green bond issuance on Africa’s stock exchanges.

Key points:

• How can financial markets promote the structuring of green bonds to state-owned enterprises and corporates?
• What’s needed to enhance green bond regulatory frameworks?
• How could Africa’s green finance products be more attractive to global investors?

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Africa and the Middle East’s industry to embed payments, credit, savings, investing and insurance products on non-financial platforms is set to almost triple in value by 2029 to around $40 billion. South African retailer Woolworths saw profits in its financial services segment double in FY 2024, through a joint venture with Absa offering in-store credit, credit cards, personal loans and short-term insurance. Embedded finance could bring essential services to the underbanked, but the segment remains constrained by fragmented regulatory frameworks, inconsistent digital infrastructure, lengthy licensing procedures and challenges integrating with legacy systems. In a closed-doors roundtable, traditional financial players, fintechs and regulators discuss developing a regulatory environment to capitalise on a booming sector that could revolutionise financial inclusion. 

Key points: 

• From telco to e-commerce platforms: Overcoming tech hurdles to embed exciting financial products in digital consumer channels  
• Streamlining approvals and oversight for embedded finance: Balancing consumer protection with efficient licensing processes and a purpose-built regulatory framework
• Winning consumer trust: Developing a strategy for widespread adoption 

Africa needs to significantly improve productivity in its food value chains to meet the current and growing demand of an increasing population and achieve food security. Agricultural Technology (agTech) presents an opportunity to transform agriculture and food systems in Africa in the way Fintech has transformed financial inclusion in the past decade. AgTechs connect smallholder farmers to mechanization, quality inputs, and a range of digital services to improve farming, making it possible to de-risk, reduce the cost of servicing, and increase the productivity of small-scale agriculture to a point where it can be financed commercially, with support from blended finance along the way. How can policymakers, regulators, agTech companies, and the financial industry create the ecosystems needed to transform Africa’s agriculture and food systems, and generate domestic revenues for African countries?

Africa faces the highest external public debt borrowing and servicing costs in the world, with debt service obligations of $163 billion this year. According to a number of experts, this is partly due to an unfairly inflated perception of credit risk and inappropriate international banking rules. At the same time, restructuring mechanisms such as the G20 Common Framework are proving ineffective, as seen in Ghana, Zambia and Ethiopia. With the African Union calling for more concessional financing from multilateral banks, how can creditors and debtors work together to stem the tide of defaults?

Key points:

• Paris Club and G20 Common Framework: What reforms are needed to make restructuring mechanisms fairer?
• Special Drawing Rights, capital increases, local currency loans, liquidity support: How can the IMF and multilateral banks contribute to more favourable financing?
• Pan-African rating agency, Big Three reforms: How to correct the African risk premium

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With one of the most extensive points of sale and agent networks in the continent (e.g. 1,700 PoS in Morocco), microfinance institutions are hindered by heavy reliance on physical infrastructure. Partnerships with traditional institutions could diversify microfinance offerings (e.g. savings, payments, insurance), yet micro-lending prevails as the focus for low-income populations. High allowable microfinance interest rates, face growing scrutiny over their poverty reduction impact. As African regulators seek to enhance microfinance institutions’ role, a roundtable of stakeholders assesses how to better serve the low-income segment.

Key points:

• Moving from people-intensive distribution models to a leaner digital and data-based approach
• Achieving lower interest rates through expanded AI & machine learning credit scoring
• Using micro-credit as an anchor to serve consumer micro-savings & micro-insurance needs

Following international banking exits across African markets, continental banks have an historic opportunity to become truly global banks in key financial centres, from London to Hong Kong. Such an expansion could mobilise funding and foster cross-border trade to Africa, yet few African banks have made this leap. Companies like Access Bank, First Bank of Nigeria and Bank of Africa are exceptions. The former recently raised $1.8 billion to expand globally with eyes on US market entry by 2026. CEOs of top African banks discuss the strategic imperative of global expansion. 

Key points:   

• Navigating regulatory hurdles for banking licenses and local compliance
• Correspondent banking: Can African banks really be viable alternatives to international banks?
• What business models will help African banks succeed internationally?

Social safety nets like universal healthcare require financing. Ambitious projects, like those undertaken by the Moroccan National Social Security Fund (CNSS) illustrate the challenges and opportunities of aligning financial investments with social development initiatives. Understanding this delicate balance between financial considerations and social development goals is imperative to create strategies for sustainable and inclusive growth for the continent. A conversation with Hassan Boubrik, Managing Director of CNSS looks at best practices, and successful partnerships between the private, public and non-profit sectors. 

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Women are significantly underrepresented in Africa’s fintech scene, making up only 27% of roles across the continent, and even less in leadership positions. Only 3.2% of fintech firms are female-led and despite a growing wave of female entrepreneurs, there is a persistent gender gap in access to crucial resources and sector-specific training. From mastering blockchain for secure payment systems to harnessing AI for personalised banking solutions, what skills and support do women need to be at the forefront of fintech’s future and to break through leadership barriers? 

Key points: 

• Bridging the skills gap: What targeted educational programs and mentorship networks can equip women to lead in Africa’s growing fintech ecosystem?
• Building inclusive fintech ecosystems: How can innovative partnerships between financial institutions, tech firms, and women’s organisations create a supportive environment for female fintech entrepreneurs?
• Championing female leadership: What role does sponsorship play in advancing women into leadership positions within fintech, and how can these networks be strengthened? 

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GenZ investors are increasingly turning to low-entry-point investment apps like Trove, Bamboo, and Cowrywise. These platforms provide AI-driven insights and access to African stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, potentially boosting capital markets. Commercial banks could adopt similar models through fintech partnerships, but few have acted. Widespread investment scams and limited financial literacy threaten the adoption of existing apps. Almost no regulatory guidelines specific to investing apps exist, forcing fintechs to rely on decades-old broker regulations that overlook key issues like cross-border investing. A roundtable of fintechs, regulators, and capital market stakeholders lay out the groundwork for digital investing to achieve critical mass. 

Key points: 

• Developing a digital investment culture: Drawing in investors and issuers
• Building scale: Enticing traditional banks to embed digital investing products
• From sandboxes to regular fintech-regulator dialogue: What should bespoke, co-created regulatory guidelines for investing apps look like? 

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Stable coins, PAPSS, regional payment systems like Buna, fintech providers, a BRICS payment system, blockchain and CBDCs have all been put forward as alternatives to SWIFT, the world’s dominant method to facilitate cross-border payments. These options offer possibilities to tackle inconsistent and often high fees charged by financial institutions to businesses under SWIFT, and to reduce the up to five days settlement time. Could the many alternatives create a fragmented landscape that will cause interoperability challenges, or will multiple solutions stimulate innovation and cater to different types of cross-border transactions? Regulators, and SWIFT alternative providers, banks, and fintechs discuss how to achieve a thriving cross-border payment environment for Africa. 
 
Key points:  

• Craving compatibility: How to ensure interoperability between the many cross-border payment system infrastructures?
• Role of regulation: How can AfCFTA facilitate technical coordination and regulatory cohesion between central banks and national regulators with independently designed payment platforms?  
• CBDCs, fintechs and cryptocurrencies: With so many payment options, where do these new players fit into the equation and how are they transforming cross-border payments? 

Dominated by international funders and development banks, African climate finance faces an estimated annual funding gap of $250 billion – a gap that African commercial banks could help bridge. Increased participation from these banks could mobilise domestic and regional resources, optimise private sector capital reserves, and more effectively direct funding towards local projects. However, a lack of experience in climate data capturing and modelling processes poses challenges for African groups. Following in the footsteps of the African Green Banks Initiative, how can collective and pan-African strategies be implemented? 

 
Key Points: 

• COP, the Marrakech Declarations, the African Green Banks Initiative: How are African banks taking the lead?
• Stress tests, solvency rules, macro and micro-supervision: How can regulators and supervisors better support banks?
• Bankable projects and local initiatives: Are commercial banks having real impact? 

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Channeling Africa’s savings into productive investments that drive economic growth remains a critical challenge. Success stories like M-Pesa in Kenya, and South Africa’s Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) have increased financial inclusion, and abroad Singapore’s Central Provident Fund (CPF) and India’s Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) have channeled massive savings by providing citizens with accessible investment options. But many commercial banks are hindered by regulatory constraints. How can this challenge be addressed from both sides: providing a strong regulatory framework that protects investors’ interests while encouraging innovation towards diversified, user-friendly and accessible investment platforms? 

Key points:  

• Incentives and tax benefits: How can governments further encourage investments in capital markets?
• Financial literacy: How important are digital tools like robo-advisors to help consumers understand the benefits and risks of investing in capital markets?
• What is the role of regulation to strengthen customer protection and oversee market conduct?  

Embedded insurance on mobile money and banking apps holds vast potential to expand access to health, crop, and personal accident cover for informal workers, 83% of Africa’s workforce. While partnerships are growing in the space, insurers are still grappling with tech integration hurdles, data gaps on informal sector risks, pricing strategies for a segment with irregular incomes, and complex multi-regulator compliance with central banks, insurance, and telco regulators. Banks and telcos are meanwhile questioning if the revenue potential outweighs the implementation effort. What critical moves will enable embedded insurance to transform Africa’s sub-3% insurance penetration rate? 

Key points: 

• Increased uptake and retention: Have embedded products to date met financial inclusion and profit expectations?
• Product design and tech integration: Deepening data on informal sector needs, and streamlining integration with or without insurtech intermediaries
• Harmonised oversight: Achieving convergence on embedded finance across regulators  

Access Bank Group Chair Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede said in September that if Africa aspires to have high-value investor stocks like Apple that have propelled Warren Buffet to stardom “we have to build our own gazelles and unicorns”. In an exclusive interview, Mr Aig-Imoukhuede discusses the political and financial infrastructure for African corporations to excel at a global level.

Nigeria and Kenya are spearheading financial sector consolidation by proposing to increase minimum banking capital requirements tenfold. In other countries, similar initiatives are emerging more timidly. This leaves many markets full of smaller players that lack the means to fund complex, growth-essential projects. How can central banks achieve consolidation without hurting MSME lending in the short term and creating a race for scarce capital that could hurt industry profits?  

Key points:

• How can central banks optimise capital adequacy for commercial banks?
• Risk-based capital or increased minimum capital: Which approach best protects financial systems?
• Time for tailor-made capital adequacy frameworks for big fintechs and neobanks?