Banks need to reinvent themselves around digital infrastructure, data and partnerships or risk losing relevance as financial services evolve beyond traditional banking models, Dr. James Mwangi, Managing Director and CEO of Equity Group Holdings, said during a panel discussion on the future of finance in Africa.
- •Speaking alongside Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and Chief Executive Officer of Women’s World Banking, and Serigne Dioum, Chief Executive Officer of MTN Fintech Group, Mwangi said the financial system is moving toward interconnected digital platforms where trust, identity and interoperability will be critical.
- •The discussion focused on how Africa’s rapid adoption of mobile money and digital payments is transforming financial services, with participants arguing that the next phase of growth will depend on stronger public digital infrastructure.
- •This includes interoperable payment systems, digital identity frameworks and regulatory structures that enable financial institutions, fintech companies and telecommunications firms to collaborate.
“None of this works without trust,” Mwangi said, noting that as systems become increasingly interconnected, institutions must ensure that participants in digital transactions are properly verified.
"The future lies at the intersection of knowledge, creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and capital," he added during the panel at the ongoing 2026 Inclusive Fintech Forum in Kigali, Rwanda.
Dioum said Africa has already demonstrated significant innovation through the widespread adoption of mobile money, which has become the dominant method of payment in many markets.
“In many African countries, financial inclusion is already a reality,” he said, pointing to the scale of mobile money usage across the continent.
In Rwanda, for example, digital wallets are widely used for everyday transactions, including in informal markets, reflecting how mobile technology has expanded access to financial services.
But Dioum said the next challenge is ensuring that digital finance helps people build wealth rather than simply enabling transactions.
“Financial inclusion is not enough,” he said. “We need to create wealth so that people become financially independent.”
That requires expanding access to credit and savings products, particularly for entrepreneurs who want to start or scale businesses.
Iskenderian said that despite major advances in financial technology, access to credit remains a major barrier, especially for women entrepreneurs.
Women account for about 58% of self-employed entrepreneurs in Africa, yet their access to finance has improved only marginally in recent years.
She said the financial sector still relies heavily on traditional collateral-based lending models that exclude many women and small business owners.
“The financial system is still operating with outdated ideas about collateral,” Iskenderian said. “At the same time, we now have enormous amounts of digital data that could be used to assess creditworthiness.”
Using transactional data from mobile platforms and digital payment systems could help lenders better evaluate small businesses and informal entrepreneurs, she said.
The panelists also highlighted the importance of regulatory alignment in unlocking credit and investment. Iskenderian pointed to public credit guarantee programs that many governments have introduced to support small businesses, but said regulatory frameworks sometimes limit banks’ ability to fully utilize those guarantees.
Even so, Africa’s digital financial ecosystem presents significant investment opportunities, particularly in digital infrastructure and platforms that allow startups to scale quickly.
Dioum said mobile money platforms increasingly function as open ecosystems where entrepreneurs can build services and immediately reach large customer bases. Mwangi said traditional banks are responding to these shifts by transforming their business models and working more closely with innovators and entrepreneurs.
