With over 700 banks, Africa is one of the untapped lucrative banking markets in the world. As incomes rise, the African continent will be an appealing market for various banking opportunities such as loans, investments and savings. On the other hand, consumers have new preferences and expectations from the banking system that transforms the nature of banking.
In Africa, the growth of fintechs, telecos and neobanks have pushed the traditional banking system to develop new strategies to be on par with other financial service sectors. To remain a competitive advantage amidst the growing number of financial services, African banks must invest in new technologies, automation, and self-service capabilities to optimize their banking operations.
Mobile banking has been more successful especially in Kenya, proving that customers are drawn to convenience and security. Hence it is all the more important now to learn, invest and spend wisely in digital infrastructure that could harness efficient banking and increase bank profitability.
The role of technology in banking has an enterprise-wide impact, incorporating AI and ML for repetitive service requests can help bank executives extend their functionalities to non-standard service requests. Bank executives could spend less time finding information from their database, automated banking processes can help delegate work queues to achieve efficient, productive, and smarter workflow.
Furthermore, banks play an important role in contributing to the broader economy and society of Africa, the financial inclusion of the African community can further accelerate the growth of the local economies across the continent.
African banks have realized the importance of a robust digital infrastructure opening its doors to massive banking opportunities that can transform the business.
The cost-cutting approach followed by banks earlier does not strengthen the bank’s revenue stream. Today’s modern day requirements allow banks to focus on productivity and managing risks as the imperative steps towards greater financial returns.
Automating the banking infrastructure contributes to the greater productivity of the bank executives, and essentially utilizing the human mind for far reaching crucial and analytical banking activities.
Data and security breaches in the banking sector could lead to customers and banks facing financial losses through false transactions. The banking and financial services sector is among the top targets for cybersecurity threats and malicious activities.
Africa has seen a rising number of cybersecurity threats, addressing these vulnerabilities and leveraging powerful digital infrastructure is vital to prevent any data loss or data breach.
Moreover, the public image of the bank or the financial institution would be tarnished owing to non-compliance with information security policies. Integrating solid security systems and adopting the right cybersecurity solutions to protect confidential customer data is the only way to secure the banking industry against these attacks.
There’s no doubt that African banking can meet the benchmark requirement standards if the industry scales up its IT resources to manage and secure the banking systems.
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