NAIROBI, March 7 (Xinhua) -- African countries should harness the mushrooming digital innovations to ensure the continent's low income population has access to financial services, experts said on Wednesday during the Africa Payments Innovation Summit held in Nairobi.
The experts, industry executives and policymakers who attended the summit agreed that innovations, friendly policies and public awareness are critical to reduce the unbanked population in Africa.
Riadh Naour, the Head of Financial Institutions Group Advisory Services at the International Finance Corporation, said that access to digital payment platforms is key to promote financial inclusion in Africa.
"It is encouraging to observe many African countries paying close attention to digital platforms that can enhance access to financial services," said Naour.
"Financial inclusion is an effective way to fight poverty in Africa while enabling populations in remote locations access critical services like health and education," he added.
The London based newspaper, Financial Times, organized the one day Africa Payments Innovation Summit whose theme was driving growth and promoting inclusion.
Delegates agreed that Africa is ripe for a revolution in financial services thanks to mushrooming youth led innovations, policy support and investments in supportive infrastructure.
"We are already witnessing the dawn of digital age in Africa. Mobile payments have disrupted formal banking system but have ensured the poor have access to financial services at a cheaper cost," said Naour.
African countries are harmonizing their policy and legislative frameworks to facilitate uptake of digital payment platforms as a means to bridge access gap in financial services.
Abdoulkarim Soumaila, the Secretary General of Nairobi based African Telecommunications Union, said that a strong regulatory framework is required to minimize risks arising from huge uptake of money transfer innovations.
"Africa is emerging as a hub in the digital payments space but this development should be regulated to forestall risks like cyber-crime," Soumaila said, adding that a dialogue between telecommunication companies, banks and regulators is key to enforce ethical behavior in online financial transactions.
There is need for African countries to borrow lessons from emerging economies like China and India in their quest to scale up access to payments innovations.
Greta Bull, the CEO of World Bank affiliated Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, said that support for indigenous innovations is key to ensure Africa compete favorably with Asian allies in the digital payments space.
"There are interesting models in China, India and other emerging markets that can be replicated in Africa to strengthen its lead in digital payment platforms," said Bull.
