Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) will today join the global community of Central Banks, governments, financial institutions, fintechs, and other players to deliberate and reflect on the theme of “People and Talent: Harnessing Collaboration in Pursuit of Resilience and Growth Post COVID-19.’’
In a statement, Dr Patrick Njoroge the Governor of CBK expressed his gratitude to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for allowing CBK and almost 40 other cities to partner in expanding the reach of the virtual 2020 SFF.
“2020 has been an exceptional year dominated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Our lives and livelihoods have dramatically changed as Governments, businesses and citizens globally sought to contain the pandemic. There have been significant adverse health and economic effects that have rolled back global progress in efforts towards the shared prosperity of our citizens. As significant progress begins to be made on the medical front in developing vaccines and therapeutic drugs, the conversation must shift to building back better,” the statement read.
Although the pandemic brought about devastating effect, it also accelerated the digital platforms which have been the lifeline in accessing essential financial, health, education, medical, entertainment and other services.
He acknowledged that we must embed these gains and leverage them as we pursue global resilience and growth post COVID-19.
Njoroge highlighted three broad themes to set the stage the first one being restoring Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
“SMEs are the engines of economies globally and more particularly in Africa. However, they have borne the brunt of COVID-19 containment measures including movement restrictions and curfews,” he said.
SMEs businesses have been disrupted causing adverse impact on lives and livelihoods which will need the acceleration of digital ecosystems that will enable the SMEs to reconnect with their customers, markets and access the much needed finance for recovery.
“Second is partnerships and collaborations. As we move forward, agility will be
imperative particularly for incumbent institutions as they respond to changing customer ,preferences for anytime anywhere services,” he added.
According to Njoroge, even before the pandemic, incumbent banks and telecommunication companies had started to develop partnerships with agile fintech companies.
He said that the trend will have to be accelerated in a safe and sustainable manner as we build back.
The third theme is sustainable finance which must take into account environmental, social and governance considerations.
This is an area that the Kenyan banking sector is setting the pace on. In 2015, Kenyan banks established the Sustainable Finance Initiative to embed sustainability in their values and processes,” he explained.
Some of the leading Kenyan banks in these areas will be sharing their sustainable finance experiences and strategies going forward later this week.
CBK is to host the Nairobi Online City, an iteration of the Afro-Asia Fintech Festival (AAFF) launched in 2019.
The AAFF Nairobi Online City is part of the 2020 Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF).
