Interswitch, a leading pan-African payments and digital commerce company, has reaffirmed its focus on improving Africa’s digital economy with the grand finale of its TechConnect 5.0 series.
Held on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, the event, themed “United Frontiers: Growth Powered by Innovation, Collaboration, and Compliance,” brought together regulators, fintech leaders, bankers, and innovators to discuss how Africa can balance innovation with compliance to ensure inclusive growth.
Speakers included Musa Jimoh, director of Payment Systems at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Chika Nwosu, managing director of PalmPay; Vincent Ogbunude, CEO of Verve International; and Akeem Lawal, managing director, Interswitch Purepay.
Speaking at the event, Cherry Eromosele, executive vice president, Marketing and Corporate Communications at Interswitch, said the TechConnect series has evolved into a platform for enabling inclusion, aligning regulation with innovation, and strengthening collaboration across the ecosystem.
On Interswitch’s newest innovations, Vincent Ogbunude unveiled cutting-edge solutions such as tokenisation, digital card storage, tap-to-pay transactions, and cross-border interoperability designed to unify Africa’s fragmented payment landscape.
“Interswitch has already crossed the 100 million-card milestone in Nigeria. But we know the future is digital. We’re now enabling users to digitise their cards, store them on mobile devices, and make secure tap-to-pay transactions,” he said.
Ogbunude added that over 40 million Verve cards with contactless functionality have already been rolled out across markets including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Côte d’Ivoire, an achievement that will speed up the continent’s transition to seamless payments.
In his comments, Akeem Lawal noted that compliance is indispensable when it comes to innovation:
“You cannot build sustainable innovation without compliance. It is the foundation of trust, customer experience, and long-term growth. Many see compliance as a checklist; we see it as guardrails that make innovation sustainable,” he said.
The event concluded with awards recognising partners including FirstBank, Zenith Bank, UBA, GTBank, PalmPay, Moniepoint, OneAfriq, Fincra, and others for their contributions to enhancing the payments ecosystem.
The awards presentation session for “Outstanding Performance” was led by the VP, Sales & Account Management, Interswitch Systegra, Robinta Aliyu, and the VP, Business Development, Interswitch Purepay, Etitayo Awe.
