Payment innovation and secure digital infrastructure in the Middle East and Africa
Morocco resolutely looks to the future as the Middle East and Africa meet at the crossroads of financial system transformation, technology and regulation. At the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings, OMFIF’s Digital Monetary Institute, in collaboration with Mastercard’s Policy Center for the Digital Economy, convened a high-level seminar to explore advancements in the digital ecosystem.
Building on discussions with experts about the World Economic Forum’s seven ‘shared principles for an inclusive financial system’ and OMFIF’s evolution of national and international payments report, this event layed out a pathway to understanding and adopting next-generation options.
We discussed transition strategies for ensuring financial inclusion is central to the future of payments. Speakers examined how financial sectors are leveraging technology solutions to digitalise and grow their economies, develop new value propositions and understand the implications of a global payments infrastructure. We delved into policy considerations and the potential of digital technology, including payments innovation, fintech and central bank digital currencies, to encourage a systems-based approach to closing the financial inclusion gap and improving payment efficiencies.
Speakers
Ernest Addison
Governor
Bank of Ghana
Ernest Addison
Governor
Bank of Ghana
Jameel Ahmad
Governor
State Bank of Pakistan
Jameel Ahmad
Governor
State Bank of Pakistan
Abdulrahman Al Hamidy
Director General Chairman of the Board
Arab Monetary Fund
Abdulrahman Al Hamidy
Director General Chairman of the Board
Arab Monetary Fund
Michael Atingi-Ego
Deputy Governor
Bank of Uganda
Michael Atingi-Ego
Deputy Governor
Bank of Uganda
Khalid Elgibali
Division President, Middle East and North Africa
Mastercard
Khalid Elgibali
Division President, Middle East and North Africa
Mastercard
Dong He
Deputy Director, Monetary and Capital Markets Department
International Monetary Fund
Dong He
Deputy Director, Monetary and Capital Markets Department
International Monetary Fund
Aliou Maiga
Regional Industry Director
Financial Institutions Group (FIG), Africa
Aliou Maiga
Regional Industry Director
Financial Institutions Group (FIG), Africa
John Orchard
Chief Executive Officer
OMFIF
John Orchard
Chief Executive Officer
OMFIF
John Orchard is chief executive officer of OMFIF. He has expanded OMFIF’s activities as he steered it through Covid-19, setting up key forums on digital money, sustainability and public debt, alongside OMFIF’s longstanding work on monetary policy and policy-makers. He chairs OMFIF’s executive committee and is a member of the OMFIF board. Up to November 2019, he was a member of Euromoney’s management board, having started with the London stock market-quoted global information business in 1994.
Jean Pesme
Global Director, Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation
World Bank Group
Jean Pesme
Global Director, Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation
World Bank Group
Solomon Quaynor
Vice President for the Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization Complex
African Development Bank Group
Solomon Quaynor
Vice President for the Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization Complex
African Development Bank Group
Sponsors
