FDH Bank touts strides to narrow digital divide
FDH Bank plc says it is playing its part to narrow the digital divide and enhance access to financial services to its customers through the introduction of innovative products.
The Malawi Stock Exchange-listed bank has said this in the context of its participation, through its parent company FDH Financial Holdings Limited, at the 9th Africa Bank 4.0 Summit for Southern African Development Community (Sadc) region in Johannesburg, South Africa last week.
In a statement yesterday after the summit that attracted about 45 influential league of Fintech, FDH Financial Holdings Limited group head of information technology Ganizani Phiri, who was one of the panellists, said the bank has also taken steps to ensure that customers are safe while using their digital products.
He said: “Much as we are in competition, there are many areas we can collaborate for the benefit of customers.
“We need to tackle the issue of cyber security jointly for significant progress to be made. There is no limit to innovation, so we need to be on our toes to bring the best for our customers.”
During the meeting, it was generally agreed that digital technologies are unlocking new pathways for rapid economic growth, innovation, employment and access to all forms of services in Africa and that Internet penetration, which is at a paltry 20 percent in Malawi, is a major facet that supports access of services.
Reads the statement at the end of the summit: “However, Africa’s Internet coverage still lags behind other regions, which creates a digital divide with the availability of services and issues for the remote and poorer areas in many countries.
“This is the case with the financial services sector as well.”
The statement further said what is critical is how governments, the financial services sector and the telecommunication authorities are working to narrow the digital divides and enhance access to financial services by customers, especially in the remote areas.
It said across three regional editions featuring conference, workshops, startup-investor and awards, the Africa Bank 4.0 Summit brought together the policymakers and the higher authorities from the continent’s Fintech and banking sector.
The summit was aimed at addressing the digital divide that has been created due to Africa’s Internet coverage that is still lagging behind other regions due to the availability of poor services.
The conference brought together governments, financial services sectors and telecommunication authorities to deliberate on how they are working to address the digital divide and enhance access to finance by adopting superior methods in digital transformation, especially in remote areas of Africa.
Some of the panellists at the summit included Nandan Mer, group chief executive officer of Network International and Kuldip Paliwal, managing director and CEO of First Alliance Bank Limited.n
