19 Jun Africa banks progress toward digitisation

Following strong demand for better banking infrastructure across Africa, the latest edition of the African Digital Banking Transformation Report suggests banking access continues to be on the rise and individuals of all natures across the continent are becoming a part of banking schemes and programmes.

Over 2022, Banking Access increased. The year ended with over 48% of the population having access to banking services. This can be compared to the 44% in 2017. The growth can be attributed to the popularity of mobile money and digital banking.

Approximately 50% of the population of the continent remains unbanked, indicating a need for further growth in the sector. McKinsey predicts a 10% annual growth rate in the African financial services market, generating $230bn in annual revenues by 2025.

Banking in Africa is commonplace in larger cities such as Lagos and Cairo. However, the majority of the continent still relies on cash for the majority of transactions. Parts of Africa still operate on a trust based local economy and the exchanging of goods as the main means of transaction.

Digitisation has great promise across Africa and more and more countries are buying in.

Africa, which is growing at an incredibly fast rate, must maintain cybersecurity standards, as it is an obvious target for threat actors due to many of its digital sectors being in their infancies.

Alongside the digitsation of banks, there is great opportunity for the growth of cybersecurity across Africa.