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Technology and Innovation


Technology and innovation is changing the nature of financial markets. Innovation can create opportunities, enhance efficiencies, increase competition, drive scale, and improve the reach and value of financial products and services to consumers. However, with innovation also comes risk.

Much attention is currently placed on the development of new technologies, business models and on creating the regulatory space for these models to encourage and facilitate innovation whilst protecting consumers to support both market development and consumer protection.

Our work explores the benefits and risks of technology and innovation across Africa and Latin America. We work to understand, map and support the various drivers for inclusive innovation, including the development of sustainable and welfare-enhancing products.

The Latest in Technology and Innovation

Digital skills in Africa
How can young people in Africa develop the right skills for employment and income in the digital economy? Our landscaping study on digital skills [...]
Exploring the impact of COVID-19 on livelihoods in Africa
The slowdown in economic activity brought about by the spread of Covid-19 has already been felt in the Northern Hemisphere where restrictions to the [...]
Insur;Hack Report
Egypt's first hackathon focused on creating an inclusive and tech-enabled insurance sector The Insur;Hack (focusing specifically on insurtech) was [...]
Digital platforms: unlocking economic inclusion in the rising era of smart mobility in Africa
The movement of Africa’s rapidly growing urban population will be shaped by digital technologies in the era of smart mobility. Smart mobility [...]
An analysis of ID proxy initiatives across the globe
BankservAfrica and Cenfri investigate the role of ID proxy initiatives in transforming payment ecosystems in Africa and beyond.   Real-time instant [...]
Reaching for the future, searching for a vision for Africa’s digital economy
Digitalisation is disrupting markets and economic structures globally, and even advanced economies do not have a clear view of the new economy and [...]
Exploring Africa’s digital platforms: Insurance in e-hailing
In recent years the platform economy has rapidly transformed various economic sectors such as hospitality, ecommerce and transportation. One of the [...]
Africa’s digital future: Policy scenarios
What could Africa look like in 2048?  The digital revolution is gaining ground across Africa. Ambitions around an increasingly digital and [...]
Behavioural science for financial services
We’ve been exploring how financial service providers can translate new insights from behavioural science into the design and delivery of financial [...]
The application of behavioural interventions
As we explore how behavioural science can narrow the gap between customer intention and customer action, we have started to look at examples from [...]