Theme: Financial empowerment through trusted payment solutions

The challenge and opportunities of mobile and electronic banking

Microfinance: Deepening financial services

Regulation vs Innovation

Regulation and innovation have to find an optimum coexistence. In order to encourage innovation and financial inclusion, positive, creative regulation is needed, rather than restrictive regulation. And communication is the key, in order to avoid misinformation and misconceptions having a negative impact on the market.

Standards, compliance and international trends

For the region to offer truly world class banking services, it needs to learn from best practices internationally. Lessons from the work banking crisis must be learnt and appropriate steps taken to incorporate those measures that will most effectively achieve board requirements and business objectives. Important international standards are rapidly evolving and it is vital for the region’s banking leadership to understand them and their benefits.

Conference framework

The two-day conference provides a valuable educational forum for the financial services sector, updating CXOs and IS managers on latest international developments in payment technologies, best practices in IT project deployment, and latest trends in customer service delivery. In addition, more and broader themes of risk management, governance, regulation and compliance will be covered.

Bankers will be asked to share their insights into optimizing customer service, operations and delivery of banking services. This year we will be encouraging audience participation though employing a panel discussion format for the vast majority of the sessions.

Who is the conference aimed at?

The event will have several key audiences:

• ICT managers & professionals in the banking and financial services sector

• The Regulators and policy-makers

• SME’s, Innovators and service providers active in the financial services sector

• High-level managers at CEO, COO and CFO level in banks, MFIs and telecom operators

• Telecom operators and service providers

• NGOs/civil society organisations directly involved with delivering banking or microfinance services in rural areas.

• Media representatives

Evaluation and outputs

There will be several outputs from the event:

• Increased knowledge among top managers and professionals in the COMESA banking sector of latest international trends and technologies and their application in the region.

• Increased awareness among high-level non-technical managers in the sector of the vital role ICT has to play in their business strategies – and the range of technologies and systems available.

• Informed media coverage that will help build a profile for the issues under discussion.

• Broker relationships between suppliers and users of systems for the financial services sector.