A NEW ERA: TIME TO MOBILISE AFRICA'S FINANCIAL POWER
As Africa stands on the cusp of a new financial era, the need to harness its immense economic potential has never been more urgent. The continent’s financial resilience has been put to the test in recent years, as global market conditions have hardened, and credit rationing has cast a shadow over its economies. Yet, despite these challenges, Africa’s private investment landscape remains robust, driven by remarkable agility, and industrial, commercial, and financial firms with large continental footprints have still managed to secure financing.
However, while short-term resilience has been commendable, Africa’s financial future demands bold, long-term strategies. Retail customers and SMEs continue to grapple with high interest rates, and private equity deals have hit historic lows. The withdrawal of long-established international players further underscores the need for action.
Now more than ever, the continent’s leaders must build on this momentum by pushing for reforms that will modernise and consolidate the financial industry. The community of African financial leaders, meeting at the upcoming Africa Financial Summit – AFIS in Casablanca on December 9-10, will focus on five key priorities aimed at driving transformative change:
1- Creating banking products and capital market solutions to channel local savings into productive investments, fueling growth and development;
2- Facilitating payment interoperability, reducing the cost and time of cross-border transactions, and enabling faster trade across African borders;
3- Strengthening capital requirements for financial institutions, consolidating the industry, and encouraging partnerships with international financial centers;
4- Bringing financial products to the informal workforce, which makes up 83% of Africa’s economy, by leveraging digital channels to offer insurance and banking services;
5- Building a pan-African stock market, tackling market fragmentation, and boosting intra-African investment, creating a truly integrated financial ecosystem.
As the summit draws the continent’s most influential policymakers and financial leaders to Casablanca, it becomes more than just a gathering—it’s a call to action.
This is the moment for Africa to assert its place in the new global financial order, to chart a bold course that not only responds to the continent’s needs but sets a global benchmark for innovation and impact.
PANELS, STRATEGIC ROUNDTABLES & WORKSHOPS
GLOBAL ECONOMIC AND STABILITY CHALLENGES
- Central Bank Governors: Forging a consolidated financial landscape fit to grow economies
- From monetary tightening to easing: Is a pivot on the horizon
- African debt: Rethinking the rules to boost growth
- New International Economic Order: Where do financial institutions weigh in?
COMMERCIAL BANKING OUTLOOK
- How can commercial banks build a climate agenda with real impact for Africa
- Leveraging innovation: Financing Africa’s agricultural growth
- Making the digital revolution in SME finance a reality
- CEO Talk | What next for Africa’s top banks to strengthen the real economy?
- Beyond the continent for Africa’s commercial banks – an opportune moment for expansion?
CAPITAL MARKETS & ASSET MANAGEMENT
- Levelling up capital markets: Overturning the low-level of intra-Africa trading
- Turning consumer savings to productive investments via capital markets
- Broadening Africa’s access to international capital markets
- Critical Infrastructure: Increasing the supply of patient capital
- The role of stock exchanges in accelerating the climate transition
IMPACT & SUSTAINABILITY
- Women in Finance | Can gender bonds and innovative mobile products unlock a $2.5 trillion
opportunity? - Low-income markets: Building on microfinance foundations for data-led and expanded
financial services - Agriculture, impact investing, private equity: Exploring new opportunities for pension,
insurance and sovereign funds - Women In Finance | Future-proof training: Up-skilling women for the evolving digital
landscape
EXPANDING INSURANCE
- Insurance Supervisors| Unified market, uneven rules: How deep can insurance integration go
under AfCFTA? - Bancassurance and telco partners: Cracking the code on expanding insurance to the
informal sector - Insurance’s role in a climate-altered future: From risk to resilience
DIGITAL FINANCIAL SERVICES & FINTECH
- Innovating under pressure: The future of African fintech payments
- Generative AI: Unleashing the new era of computing into financial services
- Connecting the dots between investors and issuers with AI & fintech
- Eliminating bottlenecks in the $40bn embedded finance space
- Orchestrating pan-African interoperability for mobile money
- CBDCs: Maximising the potential for cross-border payments and financial inclusion
- SWIFT alternatives: Fuelling faster and cheaper international payments