Financial Market Dealers Association (Fimda) president Leslie Fatch has urged fellow financial market dealers to be innovative to enhance financial inclusion.
Speaking on Saturday during the Fimda annual lakeshore conference in Mangochi on Saturday, he said despite the country’s financial markets being small, innovation can help to tap into other markets.
He said: “The reason why people go to transact on the black market is because we are not innovative.
“There is a need for product innovation and we can improve our processes to enhance efficiency.”
Fatch told the financial market dealers that the meeting should go beyond discussions, but ensure that what is being discussed is implemented.
In his keynote address, Sparc Systems founder and group managing director Wisley Phiri said collaboration with the Reserve Bank of Malawi is key to enhancing cyber security.
In a presentation titled ‘Financial inclusion through digital innovation: Malawi’s next frontier’, he said some of the solutions to the challenges financial market dealers are grappling with can be resolved through collaboration.
“We need to collaborate to build capacity,” said Phiri.
In his presentation, Click Mobile CEO Sam Chiwanda urged financial institutions to be innovative to survive the tough business terrain.
He urged financial market dealers to embrace artificial intelligence, observing that Malawians should adopt a cashless economy.
“Cashless economy is one of the ingredients of financial inclusion,” said Chiwanda, urging authorities to solve challenges that arise due to lack of infrastructure and Internet accessibility.
“Poor network is just an excuse for incompetence. Infrastructure has to improve to ensure that there are no Internet connectivity issues.”
On his part, Bridgepath Capital CEO Emmanuel Chokani said Malawi has made strides in digital financial inclusion, adding that innovation is changing people’s behaviour.
“Malawi can grow by learning Africa’s leaders in terms of technology. We also need policy reform to move from traditional to digital banking space,” he said.
RBM chief examiner for consumer protection Madalitso Chamba, in her presentation, cited low awareness and financial literacy as some of the challenges.
“There also seems to be lack of trust and confidence in the formal financial market,” she said.
The conference was held under the theme ‘Innovation through digital inclusion’.
