African investment company Arise has partnered with FMO, the Dutch Development Bank and Above and US-based Beyond Tech (a&b) on a collaborative FinTech initiative
African investment company Arise has partnered with FMO, the Dutch Development Bank and Above and US-based Beyond Tech (a&b) on a collaborative FinTech initiative called FinForward to promote financial inclusion.
“We are excited to join FinForward, which is aligned to our objective of accelerating the digitisation of the financial industry in Africa by supporting the innovation of financial institutions and mobile money providers’ core businesses with digital solutions," Arise CEO Deepak Malik said in a statement.
"Together our goal is to drive responsible inclusive growth and make banking more accessible by leveraging FinTech solutions."
The FinForward programme is powered by 4wrd, a marketplace integrating and matching African financial institutions and mobile money providers with FinTech companies worldwide. It has been designed to ensure that global FinTech companies are easily accessible to African financial institutions to help them to innovate, reduce costs, tap into new revenue streams and work towards opening banking platforms.
"Digital innovation in banking offers potential rewards for banks and can lead to increased revenues from innovative offers and new business models. In addition, it can lead to lower operational costs from automation, digitisation and transaction migration."
FMO's Andrew Shaw (pictured) said that “with the rise of FinTech, the digital transformation of financial institutions has become inevitable and urgent.
"While many African institutions are aware and exploring this transformation, partnerships with FinTech companies remain a challenging proposition," he said.
