African banking and technology industry participants are meeting in Nairobi, Kenya to discuss the challenges they face in converting the cash-dominated continent to card-based payment alternatives.
The three-day conference, which began yesterday, has attracted delegates from more than 10 sub-Saharan African countries, including Kenya, Nigeria, Mauritius, Seychelles, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique.
A number of card payment technology and solution providers are also exhibiting at the conference, which is hosted by MasterCard.
"A significant number of financial institutions across sub-Saharan Africa have expressed the need for MasterCard card payment products in their countries," says Anthony West, MasterCard VP for business development in Africa.
"Card payments are often a new concept to these institutions and in most cases to the market as a whole, and they need to develop new skills in this sector."
He says the conference will provide financial institutions with the skills to develop and implement successful MasterCard payment card initiatives in their countries.
While ATM and card payments are widely established in some countries, notably SA, Mauritius and Kenya, West says in most of Africa cash is the primary means of payment.
"The big push behind the adoption of card technology in Africa is the need by central banks to reduce money supply. There is a huge volume of notes and coins in circulation across the continent and more widespread use of cards allows the banks to reduce this."
The problem facing all card issuers in Africa, however, is weak telecommunications infrastructure. The conference will also address the subject of how to use new smart card and m-commerce technology to overcome this challenge.
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