Can Big Data Shape Financial Services in East Africa?

whitePaper | April 14, 2022

Digital transformation in the financial space has been a hot topic in emerging markets like South Africa, Nigeria & Ghana for some time now, especially among incumbents who are threatened by radical digital-first banking entities like neobanks and challenger banks. A global study by Insider Intelligence1 estimated that in 2021, there were 29.8 million digital-only account holders, and this number is expected to cross 53.7 million by 2025, owing to the remarkable mobile penetration and ICT infrastructure development2 witnessed in marginalized regions like Africa in recent years.

whitePaper | September 30, 2022

The pandemic caused lasting changes in consumer behavior, and the financial industry must adapt to the rapidly-evolving market. Stay-at-home orders caused many to shift to digital transactions, and these new habits have dramatically accelerated the need for payments systems modernization at financial institutions of all sizes. Legacy financial systems are ill-equipped to handle the rising volume of payments. Cyber fraud concerns have also increased as fraudsters around the globe developed sophisticated new ways to exploit financial systems, at a time when many institutions are still facing staffing shortages. Combined, these factors have made modernization of payments systems a top priority. “The dialogue in the U.S. payments ecosystem has irreversibly shifted toward offering increased speed, more choices, and simpler ways of sending and receiving payments," according to a 2022 Federal Reserve report.

whitePaper | May 1, 2023

Coordinating regulatory frameworks across jurisdictions is a complex task for almost any sector. With crypto-assets – given the unique features of the underlying technology as well as the boundless opportunities that it presents – it is often contended that global coordination is not just desirable but necessary.

whitePaper | May 24, 2022

DTCC’s 2015 white paper, Understanding Interconnectedness Risks, underscored the importance of looking at the global financial system as a complex network of interdependent components. Building on efforts by academics and researchers to apply network theory and other insights to financial risk management, the paper highlighted how the failure of a large and highly interconnected entity can impact the financial system and the real economy to the point where it can cause worldwide financial instability.

whitePaper | January 20, 2020

Over the past year we have seen a number of groundbreaking announcements from central banks around the world exploring the issuance of central bank digital currencies (CBDC). In this paper we provide an overview of the potential and risks of CBDC, as well as an example of how a CBDC could be designed and built on the Ethereum blockchain. The intention is to give the reader not just a good background to this important topic, but also – by means of a concrete proposal – a practical look at what the implementation of a CBDC might entail.

whitePaper | March 14, 2022

The writing is on the wall. Disruptive technologies, evolving consumer behaviors and expectations, innovative new entrants, and a shifting regulatory landscape are all drivers behind the modernization of payments and banking. Current legacy systems are no match for these drivers of change, creating a predicament for financial institutions (FIs) who want to future-proof payments but face time and budget constraints.