The Africa development bank (AfDB)and the MasterCard have collaborated to expand financial inclusion in a bid to develop solutions that drive inclusive growth in Africa by broadening access and usage of digital financial service.

MasterCard will bring on board its mastery in design and scale of inclusive of financial service solutions and infrastructure while AfDB comes in handy with its sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction expertise.

Ajay Banga, President and CEO at MasterCard, said: “Less than one adult out of four in Africa has access to an account at a formal financial institution. While many of our industry partners have been active in this space, we believe that through our payments expertise, and the AfDB’s 50 years of experience in financing Africa’s economic transformation, we can achieve scaled impact and lasting transformation. This can only be accomplished when the public and private sectors combine resources and act together.”

So this partnership is looking into;

Build cohesive African financial systems that drive inclusion at a country level and enable service delivery to traditionally excluded populations;

Invest in a curated set of innovative financial services companies and solutions targeted at addressing barriers that hinder financial inclusion; and

Share knowledge across academic, policy and commercial sectors to create thought leadership on financial inclusion and economic development

Donald Kaberuka, President of the AfDB, commented: ” One key component of inclusive development is financial inclusion, an area in which Africa has been lagging behind other continents. Broadening access to financial services will mobilize greater household savings, marshal capital for investment, expand the class of entrepreneurs, and enable more people to invest in themselves and their families.”

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