While westerners need banks to manage their everyday lives, those in Africa often do not. The fact is that the starting point from where Africa currently exists has never existed in non-African countries; this must be taken into account. To paint an accurate true portrayal of the current financial situation in Africa, we must look at banking in Africa from a different perspective, its true perspective.

Despite the obvious challenges that lie ahead, a structural shift is nonetheless taking place within the African financial services sector. In a continent which has historically been very much “offline”, 10% of banking transactions are now digital. Between 2020 and 2021, African tech startups tripled to around 5,200 companies. With approximate revenues of $4 billion to 6 billion in 2020, McKinsey estimates that a 10% annual growth could take place in the African financial services market, resulting in revenues of $230 billion by 2025 (1). Even so, for digital payment services to succeed, an overhaul of both customer and service provider preferences must take place, which takes into account the true needs of each African country and its financial consumers, not clouded by the western perspective.

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Bruno Cambounet

Head of Research

Sopra Banking Software