ADVERTISEMENTAcross the world more and more people are using mobile banking services and nowhere more so than in Africa. Seven out of ten Africans have access to a mobile network and the surge in mobile banking has had a big impact on the continent’s economic growth.
“This century will see major changes in the financial habits of Africans and mobile banking will be on of the drivers,” says Charles Kie, Group Executive of corporate and investment bank,
Ecobank.
“This is an important element in this time of financial inclusion for African populations, and naturally, this is a significant improvement in the level of people’s financial awareness. I’m pleased this innovation started in Africa, because for a long time we had this perception that not much could come out of this continent.”
The prospect of convergence between banking and communication services offers Africans the opportunity to access financial services and to adapt their financial affairs which, in the past, tended to be conducted on a cash only basis.
The new trend, based on using mobile phone or tablets for transactions, should foster financial inclusion across the entire continent, according to Freddy Tchala
CEO of MTN Congo: “Eighty percent of African economies, at least in sub-Saharan Africa, involve a kind of informal economy.”
“If we want to regulate this economy, we have to bring them into a set of transactions that are more easily regulated. So, banking will be done through mobiles. 80% of Africans discover new technologies through the mobile and also discover banking through the mobile.”
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