Assahafa.com
Africa’s financial technology, or fintech, is booming. Set to more than double from $30 billion in 2025 to $65 billion by 2030, the scene is no longer banks vs. fintech but how financial institutions work with this emerging technology.
How this is happening in reality will be a major topic at GITEX Africa 2026, the continent’s largest tech expo, which will open its doors for the fourth time in Marrakech April 7-9.
Partnerships between banks and fintechs are critical for building systems capable of handling both local demand and global capital flows.
Africa has traditionally been behind pace when it comes to the banking race. A 2025 Afrobarameter survey reveals that only 37% of adults in Africa have traditional bank accounts. While countries like Mauritius (99% population are banked) show near-universal adoption, Morocco is far behind with only 12%. Structural barriers such as weak connectivity, limited banking infrastructure in rural regions and high transaction costs explain some of these disparities.
However, in the absence of traditional banking, reliance on digital finance is running its course. Afrobarameters reports that 60% of African adults have mobile money accounts, showing the role of technology in expanding access to financial services.
While sub-Saharan Africa leads in mobile money, with $2.5 billion in daily transactions in 2025, Morocco is making advances to catch up. The North African country launched its “Stay Cashless” initiative in February to accelerate digital payments, citing high tourist demand, especially approaching the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
Furthermore, the country is home to Casablanca Finance City (CFC), the premier financial hub in Africa. CFC is contributing heavily to bolstering fintech solutions throughout the continent, particularly with its Africa Innovation Lab, which mentors startups in the sector. Last year, CFC partnered with Morocco’s central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib to create the Morocco Fintech Center to further incubate the fintech startup scene.
Africa’s dynamic digital finance scene
Last year, GITEX Africa’s funding conversations centered around how to use fintech to harness the assets of the continent’s 170 million-strong diaspora who send home approximately $200 billion annually, often outside formal financial institutions.
This important topic adds a critical layer to conversations around Africa’s fintech boom, shifting the need for advanced mobile money access to beyond the tourism sector.
A focus on the diaspora is especially relevant in the context of cross-border payments, as initiatives like the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) aim to enable instant transactions across African markets under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Africa is set to outpace every other global region in fintech revenue growth by 2030, pointing to a fast-paced boost in broader digital payment systems.
This year at GITEX, the conversation will focus on who is taking the lead in governing this bolstering sector and how they are making it happen.
The panel “The Digitalisation of Money – Who Governs the Future of Payments?” bridges the divide between payment leaders and regulators to discuss a coordinated vision for the future of digital currencies, AI systems, and next-generation payment innovations.
Germain Bahri, Arnoud d’Yve de Bavay, and Aaron Markowitz-Shulman will assess growing concerns around trust, sovereignty, and control when it comes to how money is moved, especially through AI and blockchain.
A study from the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), finds that two-thirds of central banks believe there could or should be more direct collaboration with the private sector to design and manage payment systems as digital currencies evolve.
The report also emphasized that regulators understood that protecting consumers requires keeping pace with these innovations, with 94% of respondents identifying setting regulatory and technical standards as an essential responsibility of the state in the developing payment industry.
As the digital payment infrastructure grows, 82% of respondents cited cybersecurity as a key regulatory concern and 71% pointed to the need for safeguarding measures for consumer privacy.
These percentages align with a primary challenge to Africa’s cashless initiatives: obtaining public trust.
Against this backdrop, conversations at GITEX Africa 2026 will focus not only technological advancements but also on strengthening a relationship between tech developers and regulators with the ultimate purpose of building secure systems which consider efficiency and consumer safety.
Looking ahead to sovereign digital currencies
In the realm of monetary sovereignty, Morocco has large plans for the future.
Bank Al-Maghrib is currently developing Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), known as the digital dirham. In a still-majority cash based society, the digital version of the Moroccan dirham is aimed to make transactions faster, safer, and more transparent. Instead of redesigning from scratch, this technology is aimed to complement cash and existing digital payment systems, giving people and businesses more options in how they process transactions.
If implemented, this could help extend financial access to rural areas, support fintech innovation, and make Morocco one of the first African countries to develop a sovereign digital currency, following Nigeria, who instilled eNaira in 2021.
Source: Morocco word news
