In the past five years, Africa experienced a remarkable surge in financial transaction digitization, notably with Mobile Money transactions growing over 600%. According to a new whitepaper by Global Voice Group (GVG), implementing effective monitoring solutions in the mobile money sector across Africa’s emerging economies will significantly impact Africa’s economic future.
The whitepaper, titled “Data-Driven Transparency and Compliance in the Digital Financial Ecosystem in Africa,” extensively examines the adoption of new technologies and the incorporation of global, regional, and national policies with a particular emphasis on mobile money, financial inclusion, data governance, and their impact on African economies. Serving as a regulatory technology (RegTech) solutions guide, it offers a roadmap for seamlessly integrating technologies into current compliance frameworks, providing valuable insights into the future of regulatory compliance in the digital age.
Edouard Docteur, the Chief Delivery Officer at GVG explains, “With the massive increase in digitization, African governments must ensure the implementation of effective monitoring solutions in the mobile money sector. The whitepaper highlights how governments in Africa must invest in regulatory frameworks and leverage technology to ensure compliance, streamline taxation processes, protect end-users’ data, improve Know-Your-Customer (KYC) procedures, and mitigate risks associated with money laundering, financial terrorism, and scams”.
The whitepaper notes that there are only 82 data centres in Africa compared to thousands in Europe and United States. This represents only 1 percent of the global data centre market, while the continent houses 17 percent of the global population, with only 36 out of 54 African countries having put in place some data protection laws or regulations. The current data protection and sovereignty requirements would require increasing the current numbers of data centres to at least 700 across the continent.
The whitepaper highlights Mobile Money’s impact on local economies and provides insights into data acquisition to boost financial inclusion and governance. Emerging countries like Congo, Ghana, and Rwanda adopt data-driven approaches to tackle fraud, money laundering, and revenue leakages.
“By exploring this emerging trend, decision-makers, regulators, and industry experts will gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with harnessing data to drive positive change and foster economic growth.” noted Edouard Docteur, during the release of the whitepaper.
GVG drives innovation and shapes the future of tech-driven regulatory compliance, as a RegTech pioneer. Their whitepaper emphasizes knowledge sharing and collaboration across industries, governments, regulators, and tech providers.
The complete whitepaper can be accessed here.
