GITEX AFRICA’s Post

📆 This week, the African financial landscape witnessed a significant milestone as Access Bank Plc acquired National Bank of Kenya from KCB Bank Group. 🤝 This strategic move not only underscores Access Bank's expansion ambitions across the continent but also signals a shift in the East African banking sector's dynamics. 🌍 As experts at the forefront of African finance, we recognize this acquisition as a testament to the growing interconnectedness and robustness of the continent's financial institutions. 📈 Such developments are pivotal for fostering regional integration, enhancing financial inclusion, and ultimately, propelling Africa towards realizing the full potential of its economic landscape. Read the full news 👇🏾 #AccessBankExpansion #AfricanBanking #FinancialInclusion #KenyaNigeriaPartnership #AFIS2024

Great performance

🤝 Tunisia & Egypt Strengthen Banking Ties with New Agreement 🇹🇳🇪🇬 As a financial analyst, I’m always excited to see meaningful collaboration between key financial institutions. Recently, the Central Bank Of Tunisia (BCT) and the Central Bank of Egypt (BCE) signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation in areas crucial to both nations’ financial stability and growth. 📊 🔍 Key Insights: 1️⃣ Deeper Cooperation for Stronger Economies: This agreement reflects the historic and close relationship between Tunisia and Egypt, promising enhanced collaboration in financial stability, monetary policy, and digital banking innovations. This partnership couldn’t come at a better time, as we face increasing global economic uncertainties. 🌍 2️⃣ Exchange of Expertise: The MoU will foster knowledge sharing through workshops, training sessions, and conferences, focusing on financial inclusion, liquidity management, cybersecurity, and anti-money laundering efforts. Such initiatives will promote sustainable development in the banking sectors of both nations. 📈 3️⃣ A Step Toward Digital Transformation: In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, this agreement highlights the importance of modernizing banking operations through digitization and enhanced information systems. It’s a significant step toward building more resilient and future-proof financial systems. 💻 🚀 What’s Next? This collaboration opens the door to stronger financial ecosystems in both countries and presents opportunities for continuous growth. It will be interesting to see how the exchange of ideas between the two central banks can positively impact the broader North African region. Let’s keep the conversation going—what do you think about this new collaboration between Tunisia and Egypt? hashtag #FinancialCooperation hashtag #BankingInnovation hashtag #MonetaryPolicy hashtag #Tunisia hashtag #Egypt hashtag #EconomicGrowth hashtag #DigitalTransformation hashtag #FinancialInclusion hashtag #CentralBanks

Egypt needs to regionalize well. Business with West, East, Central and South Africans should grow while Africa as a unit can go forward to influence global regions

🤝 Tunisia & Egypt Strengthen Banking Ties with New Agreement 🇹🇳🇪🇬 As a financial analyst, I’m always excited to see meaningful collaboration between key financial institutions. Recently, the Central Bank Of Tunisia (BCT) and the Central Bank of Egypt (BCE) signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation in areas crucial to both nations’ financial stability and growth. 📊 🔍 Key Insights: 1️⃣ Deeper Cooperation for Stronger Economies: This agreement reflects the historic and close relationship between Tunisia and Egypt, promising enhanced collaboration in financial stability, monetary policy, and digital banking innovations. This partnership couldn’t come at a better time, as we face increasing global economic uncertainties. 🌍 2️⃣ Exchange of Expertise: The MoU will foster knowledge sharing through workshops, training sessions, and conferences, focusing on financial inclusion, liquidity management, cybersecurity, and anti-money laundering efforts. Such initiatives will promote sustainable development in the banking sectors of both nations. 📈 3️⃣ A Step Toward Digital Transformation: In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, this agreement highlights the importance of modernizing banking operations through digitization and enhanced information systems. It’s a significant step toward building more resilient and future-proof financial systems. 💻 🚀 What’s Next? This collaboration opens the door to stronger financial ecosystems in both countries and presents opportunities for continuous growth. It will be interesting to see how the exchange of ideas between the two central banks can positively impact the broader North African region. Let’s keep the conversation going—what do you think about this new collaboration between Tunisia and Egypt? #FinancialCooperation #BankingInnovation #MonetaryPolicy #Tunisia #Egypt #EconomicGrowth #DigitalTransformation #FinancialInclusion #CentralBanks

Delving into the latest move by the Central Bank Of Tunisia (BCT), their publication on January 11, 2024, regarding the support for the activities of Tunisian fintechs paints a compelling picture. 🌐💳 Underpinning its strategy for digital payment development (2022-2026), BCT's note focuses on fostering the payment facilitation activities carried out by Tunisian fintechs in collaboration with financial institutions. In a proactive stance, BCT extends an invitation to banks, the national postal service, and payment institutions to actively contribute to the conducive conditions for the burgeoning payment facilitation activities of fintechs. Simultaneously, the note emphasizes the importance of vigilance, urging a keen eye on potential risks associated with these activities. This strategic move by BCT is a nod of approval for the innovative technological solutions offered by fintechs in the realm of payments. The collaborative efforts with financial institutions aim to equip Tunisian merchants and artisans with secure and innovative channels that embrace digital payments. To solidify this vision, BCT has laid down comprehensive guidelines, drawing inspiration from global best practices. These guidelines cover crucial aspects such as governance best practices, risk management frameworks, and activity reporting. This initiative underscores the commitment of BCT to stay at the forefront of digital payment evolution while ensuring a robust framework for risk mitigation. Kudos to ilboursa.com for shedding light on this significant development! 👏🔍 #BCT #Fintech #DigitalPayments #FinancialInnovation

🚨 Competition Council Imposes Heavy Fines on Banks for Anti-Competitive Practices The Competition Council has taken a strong stance against anti-competitive practices, imposing fines totaling 142 million Tunisian Dinars on several banks for violations. On May 29, 2024, these banks were found to have breached Article 5 of Law No. 2015-36, dated September 15, 2015, concerning the reorganization of competition and prices. The infractions were related to additional charges levied on deferred loan payments during the Covid-19 crisis in 2020. The Council has called for an immediate cessation of these practices, underscoring the importance of adhering to established regulations. In April 2020, the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) mandated all banks to apply a uniform and transparent method for deferring loan payments. This directive aimed to ensure that deferral measures did not increase the monthly repayment burden or impose additional costs on borrowers. The BCT emphasized the necessity for clear communication of these measures to the public. #CompetitionLaw #Banking #FinancialRegulation #ConsumerProtection #Tunisia #Covid19Response #FairBusiness #Transparency

Top officials have announced that banks in the UAE will introduce Jaywan debit cards in phases. However, the process of replacing the existing 10 million-plus debit cards in the market will unfold gradually over the next two and a half years. Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of the UAE Banks Federation (UBF), stated during a media briefing on Tuesday that the implementation of Jaywan cards by banks is essential. He emphasized that given the large number of cards in circulation, the replacement process will require time. Consequently, they have agreed to execute the transition in stages over the specified timeframe. This approach enables banks to discontinue issuing other branded cards and facilitates the issuance of Jaywan cards domestically. #UAE #banks #Launch #Jaywan #cards

La BCEAO, the central bank for the 8 WAEMU countries including Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, finally released a PSP license for the economic zone. People always struggled to believe Paystack did not need a license to operate in Côte d'Ivoire. My first reaction when discovering this a few years back was happiness, no need to spend long hours with the regulator, trying to tick all the boxes needed to get the much needed document, we can start business right now! Licenses can be a massive blocker, especially in Egypt where licenses can take years of work, usually requiring companies to host data locally, and requiring tons and tons of papers signed manually - online signature is not legally binding there. So yes I am slightly relieved I won't have to manage this new license application. But a licensing framework is actually better for the ecosystem for 3 reasons: 1- Easier for partnerships - It excludes wrongdoing actors that cast a shade over the whole ecosystem and brings trust from financial partners and banks. Telco partners like Orange and MTN were particularly slow in giving access to their APIs, because they struggled to assess the seriousness of PSPs, and usually pushed back on most applications. For a simple reason: they were traumatized by partners with fraud levels that went through the roof. Without the license, these telcos were liable for the fraud, not the PSPs, and so Orange and MTN had to cover the losses. 2- Easier to operate - Clear rules means less time wasted in interpreting what we can or cannot do. In countries like Kenya, Nigeria, or Ghana, central banks are sounding boards and partners you can reach out to when launching a new service, and can help you remain compliant and avoid fines. 3- More innovation - In the absence of a license, it's up to your financial partners to decide what you can/cannot do. Knowing their risk appetite, a license means you can innovate more and you can provide more products - like lending, credit score and many more. Great news for the ecosystem, and good luck to all my PSP friends for the long hours of work they'll have to put in :-)

Top officials have announced that banks in the UAE will introduce Jaywan debit cards in phases. However, the process of replacing the existing 10 million-plus debit cards in the market will unfold gradually over the next two and a half years. Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of the UAE Banks Federation (UBF), stated during a media briefing on Tuesday that the implementation of Jaywan cards by banks is essential. He emphasized that given the large number of cards in circulation, the replacement process will require time. Consequently, they have agreed to execute the transition in stages over the specified timeframe. This approach enables banks to discontinue issuing other branded cards and facilitates the issuance of Jaywan cards domestically. #UAE #banks #Launch #Jaywan #cards