Scheduled for Wednesday, August 14, the hybrid event will take place at the Ecobank Pan African Centre (EPAC) Lagos.

The 2024 “Ecobank Fintech Challenge had over 1,550 applications from 70 countries from which only 40 semi-finalists were shortlisted.

After reviewing their applications, a jury has selected the top finalists who will be announced at the semi-final event.

They will compete in the Grand Finale for a $50,000 prize and a spot in the Ecobank Fintech Fellowship program which would provide a major boost for their innovations.

Ecobank Fintech Fellows have access to numerous opportunities through collaborations with Ecobank and its partners, potentially including an opportunity to integrate their solutions with Ecobank, opening doors to potential product launches within Ecobank’s expansive 35-country Pan-African network.

Selected fintechs may become Pan-African service partners within the Bank’s ecosystem. Fellows receive exclusive access to Ecobank’s cutting-edge APIs, enabling them to test and develop their products for the Pan-African market, and they also have priority access to Ecobank’s Venture Capital partners for funding exploration.

Djiba Diallo, senior fintech advisor, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) remarked:

“I am impressed by the quality of this year’s applications. I recognize the African talents and innovations. I also congratulate the semi-finalists and look forward to an interesting semi-final event in Lagos, Nigeria where we will announce the top finalists.”

Bolaji Lawal, managing director/regional executive of Ecobank Nigeria said he is glad that Nigerian affiliate was hosting the semi-finals, announcing an inspiring and thought-provoking panel of discussion with the Nigerian fintech community as a prelude to the hybrid event.

According to him,

“Hosting this year’s Fintech Challenge semifinal is a great honour for us. We are thrilled to welcome prominent fintech players from across the continent and are particularly proud of the strong participation from Nigerian fintechs. Their efforts contribute to Africa’s financial integration and economic growth. We invite Nigerian fintechs to take advantage of the panel discussions, while also using the opportunity to network and explore partnership opportunities that will support their growth”.

The Ecobank Fintech Challenge, designed in partnership with international advisory firm Konfidants, is supported by a range of partners including Huawei, Proparco, TechCabal, BlueSpace, Afrilabs, Africa Fintech Network, MEST Africa, Naija Startups, Expand in Africa, and Founders Africa.

Technology as we know is a man-made object or better defined as a series of processes designed to assist mankind, which is in no doubt a complimentary addition to the business of insurance.

According to Mckinsey & Co., in his 2022 report on creating value, finding focus and global insurance, the insurance industry was still inbound in premiums in 2021. Following the slowdown in 2020, global insurance lost premiums of about $6 billion in 2021.

It also emphasises the ongoing fight for the customer, with insurtech driving digital innovation and disruption in the industry, with investment in insurtech worldwide growing from $1 billion in 2004, to $7.2 billion in 2019 and $14.6 billion in 2021.

It is important to know that over 40% of the insurtechs are focused on the marketing and distribution segment of the insurance value chain.

Bancassurance

Bancassurance describes an authorised relationship in collaboration between a bank and an insurance company. The insurance company uses the bank’s distribution channels to sell its products, and banks in turn receive a fee from the insurance company.

This collaboration is a good association as it is mutually beneficial to both parties. When CBN ended the universal banking system in Nigeria, banks were constantly in search of complementary solutions to enhance their core earnings. 

Bancassurance was therefore one of those solutions. The banking system in Nigeria has evolved from analogue-based with transactions processed manually, to digitisation. Transactions are now being processed at the fingertips of customers with the advent of modern technology.

The insurance industry in the space cannot and should not accept being left behind. With the evolution of the digitisation era, Ecobank invested in technology infrastructure to power our financial services business. Today we run a one-bank single pan-African platform across our 33 affiliates, giving us the edge to provide a variety of payment services in-country and across borders.

Our universal corporate electronic platform, which we call Ecobank OmniPlus, is a secure electronic banking channel, which provides our corporate banking single process for transacting and reporting needs, with real-time global account access and customisable setup features.

Our clients have control over their financial functions and keep track of receipt, payment and liquidity, all with one secure global solution.

An important feature of this platform is that it is a multi-geography, multi-language and multi-currency platform, allowing customers have single access to all their accounts, in all the affiliates and counties where Ecobank is present. 

One other feature beneficial to insurance clients is the Internal Direct Demi Condo. The module allows insurance companies to pull recurring payments from their customers’ Ecobank accounts, based on some defined criteria or policy.

Other electronic channels like the mobile app, Omni Lite, online banking platform for SMEs and commercial banking retails, USSD, etc, we can integrate insurance companies, outlining some policy collections from their customers, using unique identifiers and policy codes.

Various entities can collaborate with Ecobank via an API. We have collaborated with many corporate bodies and are ready for more partnerships.