By JUDITH NAMUTOWE
AFRICA’S Financial Technology  (Fintech) is predicted to grow from US$ 200 million to US$ 3 billion by 2020.
Africa is now at the forefront of Fintech with 57.6 per cent of the World’s 174 million active registered mobile money accounts (100.1 million) in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This is contained in a statement issued in Lusaka at the weekend.
“Overall Fintech in Africa will grow from around US$ 200 million currently to US$ 3 billion by 2020.
“Going digital provides not just better services and connectivity, but enables banks and businesses to unlock productivity and play a role in development,” reads the statement.
Millions more people in Africa now have access to financial systems thanks to cashless systems using digital technology, and more and more people are seeing the benefits of mobile banking, according to Ecobank the leading independent pan-African banking group.
Ecobank happened to be  the main sponsor at the Africa Tech summit currently taking place in Kigali, Rwanda.
According to the statement, Ecobank has spearheaded the development of cashless payment systems in Africa through its mobile app and other products.
Ecobank’s mobile app allows customers in any of the 33 African countries in which it operates to check balances, pay bills and merchants, and many other services.
The mobile app offers banking services at a much cheaper cost than traditional banking, thus making it much more accessible to millions of users.
“As Ecobank works seamlessly across 36 countries in total, Ecobank is also the only bank that allows customers to transact more easily across borders.
“Digital technology is central to what we do at Ecobank. Technology offers us great opportunities to open up new markets, increase choice and speed delivery of services,” indicates the statement.