Tribunes - Afis

Key recommendations from AFIS Council meetings are published as thought-provoking opinion pieces in leading pan-African media publications. These articles are signed by select members of the AFIS Council and contain bold calls for action advocating for an improved and resilient African financial sector.

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Latest Council recommendations

Opinion: Nigerian paradox – strong banks, strangled private sector

Nigeria’s banking sector proved resilient in 2023. Yet it continues to fail in one of its core missions: funding the real economy. The Nigerian private sector suffers from chronic underfunding, caused by two main factors: banks’ historically high reserve requirements (45% of total deposits) and the crowding-out effect of public borrowing.

Digital Microsavings Need Clear Pathway to Pump Life into African Economies

Kenyan president William Ruto’s recent calls for an African savings culture to bolster economies will not be possible without concerted action to support fintechs offering digital microsavings products, according to members of the AFIS community.

Opinion: How can Africa's financial industry thwart the cybercrime menace?

Africa’s financial sector must take five vital steps to shore up governance and maintain stakeholder trust as financial institutions have become prime targets for cyber criminals, according to AFIS.

Boosting financial inclusion

Fintech: Pan-Africa regulatory platform needed to boost financial inclusion, affirm AFIS Advisory Board members in an Op-Ed published by The Africa Report, L'Economiste (Morocco), Jeune Afrique and CNBC Africa.

African banking needs an adapted continent-wide basel framework

Components of international banking regulatory framework Basel III are unsuited to emerging economies and may harm profitability for African banks, impeding lending to SMEs. Ministries of Finance, the African Union, and regional economic zones, should consider an adapted pan-African framework, say members of the Africa Financial Industry Summit – AFIS community.

Cryptocurrencies: Time for African regulators to harness the potential?

African regulators should consider strategic regulatory frameworks allowing cryptocurrencies to legally operate in ways that would benefit national economies, according to high-level participants of a strategic roundtable at the Africa Financial Summit – AFIS 2022.

Capturing Africa’s diaspora dollar: Expand the net and market Pan-African opportunities

As Nigeria gears up to launch a $500m diaspora bond, key figures in the AFIS community examine if widening the classification of the diaspora and marketing Pan-African, rather than national development projects, may help other nations attract capital from a group that has not yet fully bought into African investing. Tribune coming in October 2025.