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Consultative Workshop: Banking on Africa

25 January 2019
08:30 - 15:30

Opportunities for Fintech Development in Southern and Eastern Africa

Date: 25 January 2019

Time: 08h30 – 15h30

Venues in Pretoria and Cape Town (See below for videoconferencing facilities)

On behalf of the Human Sciences Research Council’s (HSRC) BRICS Research Centre (BRC) and the Centre for Financial Regulation and Inclusion (CENFRI), we cordially invite you to a workshop pertaining to the growth and development of the Fintech Sector in the Southern/Eastern Africa region as a whole. The workshop is titled “Banking on Africa – Opportunities for Fintech Development in Southern and Eastern Africa.

The workshop will be held on 25 January 2019 between 8h30am and 3h15pm in the HSRC Office in Cape Town and Pretoria and will be connected via Video Connection. The workshop will allow the participants to review and contextualise the results of Fintech questionnaire distributed by the HSRC. Together, we intend to draw new insights describing the trajectory of the fintech sector and develop strategies for its sustained future growth. Invited to the workshop are fintech policy makers and regulators from the region, representatives from the traditional banking sector and mobile network operators, fintech researchers and Fintech entrepreneurs.
 
New financial technologies are widely touted as a means to promote financial inclusion and combat poverty. Despite strong growth in the financial sector, poverty trends have remained high. This workshop, as an extension of the research study will explore reasons behind this trend, focusing on the following key issues: (1) Strategies for promoting Financial Inclusion, (2) Technological Concerns, (3) Regulatory Concerns, (4) Barriers to growth, (5) Fair Competition, (6) Government Support, (7) Fintech Partnerships with China and (8) Strategies for the expansion of the fintech sector.

As an output of the project, the following is expected in 2019:
•    • Policy Briefs submitted to the T20 Task Team on Fintech in the first quarter of 2019
•    • Policy Briefs prepared for country specific contexts in Southern and Eastern Africa.
•    • Publication of an online Fintech database, profiling key stakeholders in the sector
•    • Sharing of the research findings with potential Chinese investors
•    • Publication of a Fintech Research Report with findings, complemented with academic journal publications in English and Chinese

Your participation will directly contribute to the success of the project and the achievement of the desired outcomes. To RSVP your attendance, please click on the below link: https://tinyurl.com/BankOnAfricaSA. For any further details, please contact Mr Krish Chetty (kchetty@hsrc.ac.za).

The HSRC seminar series is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The views and opinions expressed therein as well as findings and statements of the seminar series do not necessarily represent the views of the DST.

Kindly note that seminars can now be accessed via the Vidyo link:
https://hsrc-vc.tenet.ac.za/flex.html?roomdirect.html&key=GGKGXLnInSbnn5Mspk7JfF1qu8

Please advise the administrator below if you are intending to link via Vidyo

Kindly RSVP by 24 January 2019
Pretoria : HSRC Video Conference, 1st floor HSRC Library Human Sciences Research Council, 134 Pretorius Street, Pretoria. Arlene Grossberg, Tel: (012) 302 2811, e-mail: acgrossberg@hsrc.ac.za

Cape Town : HSRC, Merchant House 116-118 Buitengracht Street Cape Town, Cape Town. Contact: Carmen Erasmus, Tel (021) 4667827, Fax (021) 461 0299, or cerasmus@hsrc.ac.za