E-Financial
Fintechs Charged to Drive Borderless Trade in Africa
The business community in Nigeria and players in the Fintech sector have been charged to take advantage of the opportunities that abound in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) by developing intra-African payment solutions to ease trade settlements.
L-R: Liman V. Liman, DG, Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations and Ag. Chief Trade Negotiator; Stanley Peters, ED, Technology Development & Innovation, Global Accelerex; Sen. Ibrahim Musa, Chairman, NEPC; Tunde Ogungbade, MD, Global Accelerex, and Sam Egube, Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Lagos State, at the PoS Innovation Summit organised by Global Accelerex recently at Eko Hotel, Lagos.
This recommendation, amongst others, was discussed at the 7th Edition of PoS Innovation Summit organised by Global Accelerex with the theme “African Continental Free Trade Agreement : Driving Borderless Trade Through Fintech”.
Gathered at Eko Hotel and Suites last week was a sea of curious heads: from financial regulators to senior bankers, from top management staff of Fintech companies to major players in the import and export space; the summit had delegates from all walks of life who came to get critical insight on how Fintech can drive AfCFTA, one of the hottest topical issues in continental discourse today.
Tunde Ogungbade, Managing Director of Global Accelerex, set the tone for the event with thought-provoking questions in his welcome remark, which centered around how Fintechs can facilitate easy and seamless payment across Africa in this new era of borderless trade and how the former bottlenecks and barriers can translate to breakthroughs and possibilities for continental commerce.
Riding on his tide, the Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, who was represented by the DG, Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations, Liman V. Liman, explained the intricacies of the treaty, pointing out that African countries stood to gain a whole lot by doing business with each another.
He opined that the pact, which has a goal to create a single market that allows free flow of goods and services across the African continent, would expand intra-African trade through harmonisation, liberalisation and facilitation of trade instruments across Africa.
During his keynote address, Mr. Kunle Elebute, the Senior Partner, KPMG Nigeria and Chairman, KPMG Africa, who was ably represented by Senior Manager, Technology Advisory at KPMG, Mr. Hilary Daudu succinctly explained that the non-existence of automated, secure, real-time and cost effective payment settlement systems across the African region leads to high cost of transactions and increases the viability of trading options outside the continent.
He urged Fintechs to leverage the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System to enable their customers send and receive fast, real-time retail and large value payments across Africa in their local currencies.
Speaking at the event, Senator Ibrahim Musa, the Chairman of Nigerian Export Promotion Council, reiterated the government’s support to Nigerian exporters and revealed some of the initiatives that were already put in place such as the Export Expansion Grant.
To contextualise the issues raised by the keynote speakers, the panel discussion session, which was moderated by the Head of Business News at Channels TV, Boason Omofaye, addressed the concerns raised by participants about impediments faced in their business transactions across Africa.
Panellists included the Lagos State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Sam Egube; ED, Shared Services and Products, Fidelity Bank, Chijioke Ugochukwu; a member of NACCIMA, Kunle Eyitemi; a representative of the NEPC, Samuel Oyeyipo; and an exporter, Yetunde Adekunle.
As the conference came to a close, the burden of curiosity that rested on the faces of the participants at the beginning had lifted. In its place, hope and excitement were easily palpable. It was obvious that the summit had served its purpose, as attendees were eagerly looking forward to taking new territories with seamless payment processes on the wider African continent, a possibility that the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) guarantees.
Enza, an embedded payment startup based in Dubai and founded by former Network International executives, has raised $6.75 million in seed equity funding. The round was co-led by Algebra Ventures and Quona Capital.
Founded in 2023, Enza’s payment solutions enable banks and fintechs to offer locally tailored payment services across African markets, including card issuance, digital wallets, and real-time payments.
The Enza platform is built to support both sides of the transaction chain — serving banks and fintechs on the issuing side, as well as SMEs and merchants on the acceptance side.
Existing client use cases feature the rollout of digital payment solutions, including domestic payment schemes, real-time payment services, mobile money, and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options, alongside international payment schemes across several African countries.
With operations in Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa, the recent capital injection will help enza expand its footprint into other key markets throughout Africa.
Before founding enza, the leadership team oversaw global acceptance, processing, and consumer finance divisions at Network International.
Hany Fekry, CEO of enza, stated: “This investment is a strong vote of confidence in our team, our market-leading solutions, and our dedication to empowering banks and fintechs to advance financial inclusion across the continent.”
United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has released its audited financial results for the full year ended December 31, 2024, with all major indicators witnessing significant improvement.
The bank’s profit after tax rose by 26.14 per cent to ₦766.6 billion, up from ₦607.7 billion recorded at the end of the 2023 fiscal year.
UBA’s gross earnings also grew significantly from ₦2.08 trillion recorded at the end of the 2023 financial year to ₦3.19 trillion in the period under consideration, representing a 53.6 per cent growth.
The bank’s total assets rose remarkably by 46.8 per cent, from ₦20.65 trillion in 2023, to close at ₦30.4 trillion in December 2024.
Oliver Alawuba, group managing director/chief executive officer, UBA, said the bank’s performance demonstrated its focus on driving earnings growth, preserving asset quality, and expanding business operations.
The bank has proposed a final dividend of ₦3.00 kobo per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to ₦5.00.
The dividend is subject to shareholder approval at the upcoming Annual General Meeting.
UBA is one of the largest employers in the financial sector on the African continent, with 25,000 employees group-wide and serving over 45 million customers globally.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that only fit and proper individuals are permitted to operate in Nigeria’s capital market to enhance investor protection.
Speaking in an interview in Abuja over the weekend, Dr. Emomotimi Agama, director-general, SEC, emphasized that market operators engaging in unscrupulous activities would not be allowed to go unpunished.
According to him, “It’s important that, as a form of self-regulation, they are aware beforehand that if you do what is not right, the SEC will bring you out to the wall to say that you do not have character, because the very ethics of regulating or of registering a securities market operator is in the principle of the fit and proper person’s test.
“A fit and proper person’s test means that you satisfy all of the requirements that have been laid down in the Investments and Securities Act 2007 and in other regulations that the SEC has brought out to make sure that this happens.
“Disclosures by public companies will be very, very essential making sure that the investor has enough information to make decisions. If information is not provided, then that will be against the rules and regulations of the SEC and indeed, the ISA. So clearly for us, it is getting people to understand that there is no hiding place anymore for anybody that has an intention to defraud Nigerians and to defraud anybody that is investing in this market.”
The SEC Director-General stated that investor protection is a fundamental principle for the Commission, as the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2007 clearly outlines the objectives of securities regulation in Nigeria, with investor protection and market development as its twin priorities.
He emphasized that for any market to thrive, investor protection must remain a top priority.
He further asserted that the SEC is committed to ensuring that all market participants understand the Commission’s sacred responsibility, stressing that the SEC’s leadership, entrusted with this duty by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will carry it out effectively.
“It is important to state clearly that every investor in Nigeria is under the cover of the SEC as long as the person operates within the Nigerian capital market. And so the year 2025 is a year where we say that there is zero tolerance for any activity that does not fall within the laws of the Investments and Securities Act 2007.
“We are excited that the National Assembly has passed the new Investment and Securities Act and we are earnestly waiting for the President’s assent as the Bill is going through an administrative process to get to the President, to get it assented to.
“And that alone also signifies our intention to make sure that everyone that is investing in this market, or intends to invest in this market has a cover. That cover runs across so many lines, particularly, let me mention that Ponzi schemes will no longer be a place where people will be factoring, where people will be interested in, because the penalties in the new ISA you know, towards people that are engaged in Ponzi scheme is stiff enough to deter them.”
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