Behold; The 4 African Countries Changing The Face Of Fintech Globally

A parallel result of increased mobile phone penetration in Africa is perhaps, most evident, in fintech developments across the continent which has seen the sector attract more funding than any other in the last 3 years.

Over the past decade, Africa has established itself as home to some of the world’s fastest-growing fintech hubs globally. And more evidence for this is contained in the latest Global Fintech Index City Rankings.

The report, known as “Global Fintech Index City Rankings 2020“, gave more voice to the claim that African cities are experiencing local entrepreneurial success, regulatory foresight, and the early signs of growth in the ecosystem, with fintech proving particularly instrumental.

According to the report, four African cities are in the top 100 fintech hubs globally. The four countries — Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa — emerged as the fast-growing fintech destinations in Africa for local entrepreneurial success, regulatory foresight and the early signs of growth in the ecosystem.

South Africa and Kenya make it into the top 50 fintech countries in the world with Nigeria and Ghana not that far behind.

The Global Fintech Index City Rankings 2020 was put together by Findexable. The index pays attention to emerging hubs, fintech companies, and trends.

The algorithm used in ranking studies the fintech ecosystems of more than 230 cities across 65 countries while leveraging data from global partners including StartupBlink, Crunchbase, and SEMrush, together with a group of regional partners such as the Africa Fintech Network.

The four African countries emerged among the top watcher countries across the world for 2020 and among the countries where fintech growth was adjudged to be the fastest globally.

Simon Hardie, CEO, and Founder of Findexable said: “The rankings are evidence of a worldwide decoupling between the financial strength and the commercial domination of traditional financial centers. Financial wealth is no guarantee of a city’s status as a fintech hub. You might call this the rise of non-traditional finance.”

Among other “watchers” on the list are the Philippines, Cyprus, Vietnam, Peru, Bangladesh, and Lebanon.

Moving on from countries that are home to the fastest-growing fintech hubs and considering only cities, four African cities — Lagos, Cape Town, Nairobi, and Johannesburg — also emerged among the top 100 cities worldwide for fintech businesses.

Featured Image Courtesy: FinancialTimes