By Ebi Kesiena
The Central Bank of Egypt, CBE has signed a memorandum of understanding, MoU with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to establish a Nigeria-Egypt FinTech Bridge.
The signing ceremony, took place at the Seamless North Africa 2023 conference Cairo which kicked off in Egypt on Monday, according to the report.
The MoU with the CBN focuses on the exchange of expertise in fintech, innovation, e-payment, and financial inclusion and also focuses on series of engagements, by the two parties, on issues around payment systems, financial technology, and financial inclusion in Africa.
At the event, CBE Governor Hassan Abdallah announced issuing of a new Fintech Outlook report that reveals several positive indicators of the country’s fintech sector, which garnered around 800 million U.S. dollars in investment last year.
While, the CBN Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Mrs. Aishah Ahmad, who signed on behalf of the CBN, said that the bank was extremely excited by the partnership with the Central Bank of Egypt, which followed several months of engagement on payments, fintech and financial inclusion.
“We look forward to cultivating an innovative space for fintech startups and entrepreneurs in Egypt and Nigeria to accelerate financial inclusion, deepen our payment systems and drive economic growth across the African Continent’’ she said.
The groundbreaking partnership between the apex banks of the two largest economies in Africa encompasses a broad range of collaborative initiatives, including joint regulatory innovation projects, coordinated licensing and supervisory frameworks, information sharing, fintech cross referrals and talent development.
The two-day event brought together 150 international and local experts, and more than 100 exhibitors to discuss and evaluate the future of the financial ecosystem through a slew of arrangements, including keynote presentations, panels, and case studies.
The conference was hosted by the Central Bank of Egypt and had in attendance over 4,000 policymakers, payment service providers, financial institutions and technology startups from Egypt, Nigeria and other African countries
