Banking Specialists Meet In Nairobi To Discuss The Transformation Of Africa’s Payment Landscape
Banking specialists gathered on October 3rd in Nairobi to discuss the transformation of Africa’s payment landscape at an event organised by banking service provider Tietoevry.
Participants from the Central Bank of Kenya, Co-op, NCBA, M-Pesa, KCB Bank, Kenswitch, Stanbic Bank, and others were in attendance.
The overarching theme of the event was that Africa’s payment landscape has the opportunity to evolve by shifting from a customer-directed banking focus to a partnership ecosystems focus. This umbrella of focus would then open the landscape to impactful drivers such as collaboration with fintechs and MNOs, wallets, ecommerce gateways, BNPL (buy now, pay later) systems, as well as facilitate growth in the credit card and agency banking spaces.
Pesalink called for industry collaboration to simplify instant payments for Kenyans. As the country’s leading account-to-account (A2A) instant payment network, Pesalink provides open and interoperable payment rails for the industry to move away from complex closed-loop systems. With over 65 participants and approximately 54 per cent year-on-year growth in transaction volumes between 2022 and 2024, Pesalink facilitates payments for a broad range of users, including lower-income individuals. Plounne Oyunge, Chief Growth Officer at IPSL, shared their insights in simplifying instant payments for clients.
“Kenyans want a simpler, more affordable and standardised instant payment experience. While significant strides have been made, greater industry collaboration and innovation are essential to unleash the real impact of digital payments.” – Chief Growth Officer, IPSL, Plounne Oyunge
During the event, a focus was placed on banking as a means for making lives better. Payments specialist at Tietoevry, Deniss Filipovs, outlined how banking and payments can be leveraged to facilitate financial inclusion and innovation, enhance convenience and trust, growth, and contribute to economic development as a whole.
The event was opened by Ambassador of Finland in Kenya, Pirkka Tapiola, who emphasized the benefit of collaboration and the outstanding growth that has been achieved by banks such as NCBA bank and Co-op Bank, in partnership with Tietoevry.
“In addition to working with various financial institutions in Kenya, Tietoevry has also participated in supporting the national payments strategy. For a company from way in the north, this accomplishment is an impressive one. I’m confident that their presence will strengthen the economy and be to the benefit of both businesses, the business sector, and ultimately – clients.” – Ambassador of Finland in Kenya, Pirkka Tapiola.
Additional speakers included Oskars Karkovskis, Technical Support Unit Manager at Tietoevry, who invited banks to prepare for the expected storm ahead – as there is an expected influx of support queries that comes with the rise of transaction amount. Partnership Process and Relations Manager, Keita Druvaskalna shared her approach to evaluating product satisfaction. This included broad involvement ranging from technical managers to CEOs, and concluded that one key to satisfaction is local presence in Kenya, which makes face-to-face interactions, support, and consultation possible.
The event concluded with the presentation of the Tietoevry partnership awards. Recipients included:
• NCBA for DFS Loop – for impactful partnership, pushing the boundaries of digital financial services together
• Co-Operative Bank of Kenya – bringing seamless digital payment solutions to Kenyans
• IPSL – a pioneering force in East Africa’s financial ecosystem with Pesalink
The event was held at Kwetu Hilton Hotel and concluded with rooftop drinks, discussions, and networking
