The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), yesterday, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a Nigeria-Egypt FinTech Bridge.
The signing ceremony, took place at the Seamless North Africa 2023 conference Cairo.
According to the CBN, the deal was sealed after a series of engagements, by the two.parties, on issues around payment systems, financial technology, and financial inclusion in Africa.
Speaking at the event, the CBN Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Mrs. Aishah Ahmad, who signed on behalf of the CBN, said that the bank was extremely excited by the partnership with the Central Bank of Egypt, which followed several months of engagement on payments, fintech and financial inclusion.
Her words, “We look forward to cultivating an innovative space for fintech startups and entrepreneurs in Egypt and Nigeria to accelerate financial inclusion, deepen our payment systems and drive economic growth across the African Continent.
Also speaking, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Egypt, Mr. Rami Aboulnaga, expressed optimism that the partnership would yield the desired expectation.
The groundbreaking partnership between the apex banks of the two largest economies in Africa encompasses a broad range of collaborative initiatives, including joint regulatory innovation projects, coordinated licensing and supervisory frameworks, information sharing, fintech cross referrals and talent development.
The conference was hosted by the Central Bank of Egypt and had in attendance over 4,000 policymakers, payment service providers, financial institutions and technology startups from Egypt, Nigeria and other African countries.
Credit: Vanguard