Business Desk 
“Financial sector players in Africa need to work together and share existing platforms to unlock the inherent opportunities within the financial inclusion space,” KCB Group CEO Paul Russo has said.
Speaking during the COMESA Business Council CBC 5th Digital Financial Inclusion Public-Private Dialogue in Lilongwe, Malawi, he indicated that the opportunity to deepen the region’s financial sectors should not be missed as the continent has already set the pace as a trendsetter.
“The banking sector is at a vantage point to facilitate 100% digital financial inclusion by enabling customers to open, fund, pay, save, withdraw, and insure seamlessly. What is needed is bold actions and collaboration with regulators and policymakers to provide input in enacting policies and regulations that will leverage expertise to build scalable solutions,” Russo said
He added that the role of the private sector in spurring digital financial inclusion in society cannot be underscored. This is because it acts as a bridge to the building and utilization of financial solutions that meet the ever-evolving customer needs.
Additionally, the evolution of an entirely new market for accessible, affordable, and sustainable digital financial services has led to the inclusion of millions of people in Sub-Saharan Africa into the formal financial sector and opened entirely new opportunities for the financial sector to expand and innovate to support broad-based inclusive economic growth.
“Going into the future, all stakeholders need to remain fully engaged and coordinated on the private sector development agenda or risk counting the many missed opportunities that would have played a great role in reaching the largely ignored unsegmented customers,” Russo noted.
