The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will in July hold the inaugural Afro-Asia FinTech Festival.
The festival to be held in Nairobi from July 15 to 16, 2019 is a first of its kind and will provide a platform for
networking, collaborations and exchange of ideas between Africa and Asia.
Jointly organised by the two central banks, the festival will also further boost the FinTech ecosystems in the two
regions.
A press release on Wednesday by the Central Bank said the Festival will further explore financial services innovations from emerging Afro-Asian markets that can transform legacy systems, and bring about lasting environmental and social benefits for citizens and society
The Central Bank Governor Dr. Patrick Njoroge, said cross-border cooperation is increasingly becoming important as global problems cannot be resolved in isolation.
“We need to come together as a global community to learn from each other and co-create solutions that will improve the lives of our people,” he added in the statement.
Dr. Njoroge said that CBK is honoured to partner with MAS in co-creating a unique platform for policy-makers, technology entrepreneurs, financial industry leaders and other players to come together and tap their diverse knowledge and experiences.
Ravi Menon, Managing Director MAS, said that with Kenya and Singapore as the starting points, they hope to bring the two regions closer together to innovate and make financial services more accessible and affordable for the people.
“Some of the most exciting developments in technology-enabled financial inclusion are happening in Africa and Asia. The Central Banks of Kenya and Singapore share a vision to build an Afro-Asia platform to synergise efforts in FinTech innovation,” Menon said.
Dubbed “FinTech in the Savannah”, the theme of the Festival is “Sustainable Finance: Inclusive and Green”.
The two-day summit will consist of a FinTech conference, exhibition and break-out sessions for deep-dives into the
applications of these ideas with industry.
The Conference will also see robust discussions around three key topics namely “Technology for Tomorrow”, which discusses issues in artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, cyber security technology risks and RegTech.
“Social Impact” area will look at impact investing as well as micro, small and medium enterprise financing and the third is “Spirit of Innovation”, which explores the evolution of mobile financial services, InsurTech and Digital Pension.
By WangariNdirangu
