The Future of Fintech Is Unfolding in Africa

Lost amid cryptocurrency’s recent crash has been another significant moment for fintech (financial technology) markets — an African digital payments company acquired a US firm to accelerate its growth strategy. Tapfuma Musewe and Kyle Hiebert write that this rare move indicates the huge promise of African start-ups as they produce new tools to alleviate barriers that stifle economic growth and activity across the developing world.

CIGI and Oliver Wyman’s ninth annual Financial Regulatory Outlook Conference, held in Rome in May 2022, examined the fintech revolution’s impact on financial sector regulation. Participants discussed how recent advancements in data and technology have changed the way firms and consumers use financial services and how these services are regulated, as Pietro Carlo Padoan and Angelo Federico Arcelli describe in this new report.

Eastern and Southeastern Europe are home to geopolitical disputes, polarized internal politics and ethnic tensions, making them fertile ground for digital violations. Marie Lamensch looks at the growing abuse of technologies in former Soviet bloc countries for purposes such as disinformation campaigns, harassment, spyware and facial recognition, as well as at the citizen-led organizations working vigorously to prevent the reversal of their countries’ hard-won progress.

Millions of Rogers Communications customers in Canada woke up on July 8 to find themselves cut off from cell and internet service, the outage triggered by a Rogers maintenance update. Besides affecting their work, commerce and leisure, the outage cut off essential services too, exposing a worrying lack of resilience. According to Robert Fay in this op-ed also published by TVO.org, although Rogers bears much responsibility for the failure, many larger policy and regulatory issues must also be addressed.