8 February 2023
The relevance of Open Banking in Africa
nBanks CEO, Orlando Costa, explains what makes Africa an attractive market for Open Banking.
With the consolidation of nBanks' presence in Africa, the question arises: what makes this continent an attractive market for the implementation of open banking solutions? Orlando Costa, the CEO of the Portuguese fintech - the first to arrive in African territory with this type of services - brings us the answers. Discover them in this article.
“As a rule, it is quite common for each African country to have a considerable number of banks operating locally, and it is also a frequent practice for companies to work directly with several of these banks,” explains the manager.
Orlando Costa's statement clarifies, at the same time, Africa's attractiveness for the use of Open Banking and the concrete gains that these solutions bring. Given the work of African companies with a multiplicity of banking entities, Open Banking supports the managers of these entities in “streamlining payment processes, gathering useful information for better decision-making, or creating better negotiation conditions,” he exemplifies.
These gains become more obvious if we consider that, in addition to the diversity of banks and, consequently, accounts, African countries face “differentiated currencies and daily exchange rate fluctuations that require great rigor in daily liquidity management,” emphasizes the CEO, also highlighting the “fragilities of technological infrastructure in various banking entities,” as well as the dependence on rigid data structures of these institutions.
The good news is that the benefits achieved fuel new advantages, in a true snowball with positive effects for banks and companies in all sectors. The attraction of more and better investments for the African market deserves to be highlighted. Open Banking, Orlando emphasizes, “is a tool that promotes efficiency, agility, strengthens financial literacy and, by inherent, incentives for companies to feel attracted to invest locally from the moment they can use management tools that reduce logistical and linguistic barriers.”
With Open Banking being formally introduced in other regions of the world, such as Latin America, it is Africa's turn to take this step with the support of nBanks. The conditions are favorable. The gains promise to be even greater.