After several years of sustained expansion and accelerated digital transformation, the African financial industry has decisively entered a phase of streamlined growth. The fifth edition of the African Financial Industry Barometer, produced by Deloitte and the Africa Financial Summit – AFIS, is based on a survey conducted between May and September 2025 among executives from more than 70 institutions (banks, insurance companies, fintechs, microfinance institutions, and capital markets) across the continent.
The results are clear: the sector is returning to fundamentals and making profitability, cybersecurity, and operational efficiency the new pillars of its development model.
Confidence at an all-time high, boosted by disinflation
In 2025, executives rate their organization’s three-year economic outlook at 8/10, up 0.72 points from 2024, with 74% optimistic and only 4% negative. This renewed confidence is driven by slowing inflation, improved operational visibility, and sustained commercial momentum.
Microfinance institutions show the highest level of confidence with a score of 9/10, ahead of insurance companies (8.35/10), while fintechs normalize their expectations for the economic outlook to 8.33/10 after peaking at 9.25/10 in 2024. Pan-African groups show a high level of confidence (8.44/10), while international players (7.82/10) and capital market players (7.5/10) remain more cautious in a context of prolonged volatility.
The African financial sector has entered a phase of maturity. Confidence is high, fundamentals are strengthening, and continental integration is becoming a reality. The remaining challenges, cybersecurity, data quality, and availability, and interoperability are those of an ecosystem that is being built, not defended. The ongoing consolidation is paving the way for stronger, more sustainable, and decidedly more inclusive growth.
Ambroise Depouilly
Managing Partner, Deloitte Afrique francophone
Focus on profitability and operational efficiency
In 2025, profitability was the strategic priority for 46% of the institutions surveyed, signaling a transition to a phase of maturity after several years of sustained expansion. Three levers now dominate transformation plans: financial performance (84%), customer experience (85%), and digital transformation (81%), all of which are up from 2024.
This strategy is reflected in improved fundamentals: net operating margin is up for 69% of players, return on equity (ROE) for 57%, and return on assets (ROA) for 58%, despite persistent pressure on asset quality and risk costs. Operational efficiency declined by 6 points, with 54% of institutions reporting an improvement, illustrating the growing complexity of cost control (talent, technology, compliance) in a more constrained economic environment.
Cybersecurity: from a technical issue to a systemic risk
58% of institutions report a high or very high level of exposure to strategic and regulatory risks. At the same time, 51% rank cybersecurity among their main concerns, compared to 39% in 2024.
In terms of desired regulatory changes, cybersecurity tops the list of expectations for 97% of respondents, ahead of digital identification (92%) and the fight against illicit flows (87%, +18 points compared to 2024). While 65% to 70% of institutions already have fully operational prevention, detection, and response systems in place, the Barometer highlights the investments that still need to be made in the sector: investments have so far focused heavily on detecting cyberattacks, but remediation capabilities are still limited. The transition from real-time identification to resilience is the next challenge.
This Barometer highlights a very clear return to fundamentals in the African financial industry. Faced with a more constrained environment, executives are refocusing their priorities on financial performance and operational efficiency, which are once again becoming the sector’s true strategic compass.
Frédéric Maury
Deputy CEO Event, Jeune Afrique Media Group
Digital and AI: from a competitive advantage to a prerequisite
54% of the institutions surveyed now consider themselves digitally mature, up 6 points from 2024. Fintechs remain at the forefront (67% in the Leaders position), but insurance companies have made the most significant progress, with 59% of players in an advanced position (12% Leaders and 47% Potentials), up 19 points compared to 2024.
Artificial intelligence is primarily seen as a lever for risk management: 77% of institutions anticipate a strong or transformative impact of AI on fraud detection, 70% on credit risk analysis, and 70% on operational process optimization. Personalization of offers (72%) and chatbots (68%) complete the main use cases, combining operational efficiency and commercial conquest.
Continental integration: interoperability accelerates, PAPSS confirms its potential
PAPSS stands out as the most operational continental integration initiative: 35% of institutions rate it as highly operational (+15 points vs. 2024), with measurable gains in costs (25%) and settlement times (23%) for intra-African payments.
The interoperability of payment systems is identified as the priority transformation by 2030 by 28% of respondents, driven by the ambition to decompartmentalize 1.6 billion accounts (banking + mobile money combined).
Financial inclusion and ESG: from declarative logic to a pragmatic approach
Financial inclusion is a strategic pillar for only 39% of institutions, driven by microfinance institutions (100%) and fintechs (67%), while insurance companies are strongly repositioning themselves in underpenetrated segments, particularly through partnerships with telecom operators and microfinance institutions.
Regarding ESG, the Barometer reveals a phase of pragmatic engagement: impact investing remains the most structured dimension (66% engagement), while the integration of ESG criteria has fallen to 57% and institutions are focusing their efforts on areas with a rapidly measurable impact. Gender parity is making significant progress, with 47% of institutions having already implemented gender parity policies in their teams and 44% having dedicated reporting on gender indicators.
