Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI)’s Post

So excited to share this report that examines the different strategies being used by Egyptian fintechs as they seek to address the scarcity and dormancy of data trails from marginalized groups that can enable expanded access to financial services. We discuss the benefits and concerns of each strategy, identify key barriers and challenges in the ecosystem, and provider recommendations on how different stakeholders can play a role in developing a more effective and inclusive data economy. And a big shoutout and thanks to Edoardo Totolo, Dr. Nouri Sakr, Ayman Ismail, and Alexandra Rizzi for all of their assistance and input! Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI), FMO - Dutch entrepreneurial development bank

The Fintech Frontier: Redefining Financial Inclusion in Africa 📱🤖 Fintech missed the marginalized, but AI-finance solutions and institution-fintech collaboration can drive financial inclusion in Africa. 🌍 https://rb.gy/volqxm

Wealthtech and Investing in the Middle East and Africa 2024 The following is an overview of wealthtech in the MEA region which I made with The Fintech Times and is an excerpt from the recent "Fintech: Middle East and Africa 2024 Report" which I authored: "Traditionally, wealth managers have provided professional financial services primarily to affluent clients, offering investment advice and financial planning. However, the emergence of fintech has disrupted this industry, leveraging robo-advisory and advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to make wealth management more accessible." To read more -> https://lnkd.in/dHjWjDE4 To read the Fintech: Middle East and Africa 2024 Report -> https://lnkd.in/dDw2b6se #wealthtech #investing #fintech #report #economicdevelopment #fintechafrica #fintechmiddleeast #fintechMEA #wealthtechmiddleeast #wealthtechafrica #digital #economy #digitaleconomy

Unlocking Wealth in the Middle East: Big Data's Role in Financial Inclusion and Economic Growth 🌍📊" Imagine a world where everyone, regardless of income or location, has access to financial services that help them thrive. In the Middle East, big data is turning this vision into reality. Big data is driving financial inclusion, fostering innovation, and transforming economies across the region. Here’s how: 🔎 Empowering the Underbanked: Alternative Credit Scoring: Using mobile data, payment history, and social signals to assess creditworthiness. Digital-first services: Fintech solutions providing affordable, accessible accounts and lending. 💡 Stat: The Middle East’s unbanked population is expected to drop significantly with big data-powered solutions. 🚀 Boosting SME Growth: Data-driven insights: Helping small businesses optimize cash flow and access tailored financing. Predictive analytics: Enabling SMEs to anticipate market trends and customer needs. 💡 Impact: SMEs contribute over 40% of GDP in the region, and big data is set to amplify this further. 🛡️ Enhancing Security and Trust: AI-powered fraud prevention: Analyzing patterns to stop cyber threats before they occur. Blockchain integration: Ensuring transparent, tamper-proof financial transactions. 💡 Result: Increased trust and adoption of digital finance solutions. 🌱 Fostering Sustainability: Green finance analytics: Tracking environmental impact to promote sustainable investments. Energy-efficient fintech solutions: Reducing the carbon footprint of financial services. 💡 Trend: Regional governments are aligning with green finance goals, driven by big data insights. 💡 What’s Next? Smart wallets: AI-enhanced digital wallets with hyper-personalization. Sharia-compliant fintech: Expanding ethical finance options with big data insights. Cross-border innovation: Strengthening economic ties with seamless, data-driven financial systems. Big data is revolutionizing the Middle East’s financial landscape, creating opportunities for innovation, growth, and inclusion. 💬 How do you envision big data shaping the financial future of the Middle East? #BigData #FinancialInclusion #Fintech #Innovation #MiddleEast

The Kalifa Review into the future of FinTech in the UK is now over 3 years old. The review has led to a number of significant outcomes for the industry, but the biggest gap continues to be data. One of the original recommendations from the review was to establish “….a data-led approach and maintain a national fintech database, which would provide open access data and ensure an evidence-based approach….” This is such an important foundation for national coordination on a number of levels - diversity, talent, international investment and sector development. An industry owner needs to be appointed to lead the development of this. If delivered well, this would be game-changing for the industry. #fintech #ukfintech #financialservices #kalifareview #data #innovation #founders

Power Breakfast #2 Building for Financial Inclusion Key Theme: Building for Financial Inclusion Whitelist Link https://lnkd.in/duBhQqMq Description: This Power Breakfast focuses on identifying and overcoming key barriers to financial inclusion. Through collaborative roundtables, we will explore targeted solutions that aim to integrate the underbanked and unbanked populations into the financial system, enhancing accessibility and equality. The Power Breakfasts, hosted by the Fintech Association of Botswana, are quarterly roundtable sessions designed to facilitate high-level discourse and problem-solving among no more than 50 specialists from various sectors—regulatory, industry, and academia. These experts converge to address some of the most pressing and complex issues within the fintech ecosystem, with each session focusing on a specific theme such as fraud detection and mitigation or the balance between innovation and compliance.During these sessions, participants are divided into subgroups based on the main area of focus. Each subgroup is tasked with developing comprehensive action plans tailored to tackle distinct sub-areas of the broader theme. These plans are collaboratively formulated by bringing together diverse expertise from regulators, industry leaders, and academic professionals, ensuring a well-rounded approach to problem-solving.The culmination of these discussions is the production of a white paper that encapsulates all the actionable strategies devised during the meetings. This document serves as a blueprint for implementation, providing regulators and industry leaders with a detailed guide on how to address the challenges discussed. The white papers are intended to influence policy and practice, driving meaningful change within the fintech landscape.

🚀 Be a Part of the Future of FinTech! 🚀 We’re excited to collaborate with Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Cambridge Judge Business School for Alternative Finance and World Economic Forum Forum on pivotal research to uncover the key trends and challenges shaping the global FinTech landscape. The 2nd Edition of the Future of Global Fintech Report will explore the topics: 💡 The role of Artificial Intelligence in FinTech  🤝 Partnerships between FinTechs and financial institutions  🌍 The role of fintech on financial access to underserved customer segments  📊 Performance and growth indicators across the sector We need your insights to help create a comprehensive dataset that will provide evidence-based insights to support decision-making for firms, regulators, policymakers, investors, and other stakeholders. Taking around 30 minutes to complete this survey (👉 https://lnkd.in/gPBEQK2z) will contribute to shaping the future of the Fintech industry. 📢 The findings will be freely accessible to everyone! Join us in driving FinTech forward—complete the survey today and make an impact! #FinTechResearch #AITrends #FinancialInclusion #DataInsights #Innovation #FutureOfFinance

🚀 Be a Part of the Future of FinTech! 🚀 FACE is excited to collaborate with Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Cambridge Judge Business School for Alternative Finance and World Economic Forum on pivotal research to uncover the key trends and challenges shaping the global FinTech landscape. The 2nd Edition of the Future of Global Fintech Report will explore the topics: 💡 The role of Artificial Intelligence in FinTech 🤝 Partnerships between FinTechs and financial institutions 🌍 The role of fintech on financial access to underserved customer segments 📊 Performance and growth indicators across the sector We need your insights to help create a comprehensive dataset that will provide evidence-based insights to support decision-making for firms, regulators, policymakers, investors, and other stakeholders. Taking around 30 minutes to complete this survey (👉 https://lnkd.in/gPBEQK2z) will contribute to shaping the future of the Fintech industry. 📢 The findings will be freely accessible to everyone! Join us in driving FinTech forward—complete the survey today and make an impact! #FinTechResearch #AITrends #FinancialInclusion #DataInsights #Innovation #FutureOfFinance

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙂𝙡𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙡 𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙝: 𝙏𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄𝙣𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙂𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙩𝙝 The #fintech industry continues to display #resilience and solid #growth, however many long-term uncertainties remain. 𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙝 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 🆙 Fintech industry continues to grow in terms of number of #customers, highlighting sustained interest in fintech services. #Consumerdemand is driving the #fintechgrowth. 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨 🌪 Nevertheless, #macroeconomic factors are a concerning headwind, such as the #funding environment, lack of #digital and #financialliteracy of users, #interoperability between financial service providers, state of #digitalfinance #infrastructure, lack of #skilledworkforce. Despite the headwinds, fintechs have an overall positive perception of the #regulatory environment, but a significant percentage find certain aspects challenging due to the fintech #licensing and registration process, limited #coordination of financial authorities overseeing fintech, limited fintech knowledge and capacity of financial authority staff and clarity of financial authority approach. 𝙏𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨 🛫 On a very positive note, fintechs are a vehicle to widen access to finance for traditionally underserved populations irrespective of the region with financially #inclusive products & features, green & #crowdlending, digital #ESG #data & #analytics. Furthermore, Fintechs view #artificialintelligence as being the most relevant topic for fintech industry development over the next five years. World Economic Forum University of Cambridge

Discover how the Democratic Republic of Congo's new Congolese Fintech Network is revolutionizing financial inclusion and fostering industry collaboration, featuring key players like @Ecobank and @Deloitte. #Fintech #Innovation #FinancialInclusion #bankingindustry #money #finance #fintech https://lnkd.in/eHB2bYsa