Investors update: Nigeria is first African country to have open banking regulation

Nigeria is first African country to have open banking regulation

Highlights

• Nigeria has become the first country in Africa to adopt open banking regulations, which will encourage innovation in the country’s banking industry. 
• The regulations and guidelines for open banking were approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in a circular dated March 7, 2023. 
• The operational guidelines provide rules for how banks and third-party financial institutions interact with customer data, and also provide responsibilities and expectations for the various participants.

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

Across Africa, open banking has seen considerable traction in recent years with several startups having sprung up allowing developers to build for the continent with ease and quickly. We’ve also seen commercial banks and other financial institutions partner up with API startups to provide digital financial services. We believe the future of financial services in the region rests on interoperability across several players and services and with Nigeria’s pioneering guidelines, the ecosystem is a step closer to realizing that.

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Bitcoin hits 3-week low as popular Crypto bank liquidates

Highlights

• The price of bitcoin is once again on the slide after the prominent crypto banking institution, Silvergate, announced plans to liquidate.
• Bitcoin suffered a minor flash crash following the announcement, having already begun to dip in price when concerns about the bank first began to surface last week.
• Since the start of the month, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency is down 8%, having fallen below $21,700 on Thursday morning.

Source: Nairametrics

Our Takeaway

Since 2013, Silvergate has offered banking services to cryptocurrency businesses. It thus comes as no surprise that news of its demise, coming less than a year after the collapse of leading exchange FTX, has spooked investors, raising concerns about the health of the crypto sector. But analysts claim the bank’s downfall was related to issues with the broader financial sector, rather than being specific to cryptocurrency, hoping for a rebound.

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Google selects 15 women-led startups in new Africa accelerator

Highlights

• Google has announced its inaugural class of women-founded startups in its novel program,  Google for Startups Accelerator Africa: Women Founders Cohort. 
• The program is aimed at helping entrepreneurs in eight African countries that are creating innovative solutions to improve livelihoods in their communities.
• Selected women founders will receive business and technical training alongside mentoring and investment networking opportunities.

Source: Ventureburn

Our Takeaway

Africa’s tech and business ecosystem has a gender problem, that much is known. Female entrepreneurs may be taking their place in the male-dominated tech world but gender bias still makes it harder for them to access finance and grow their businesses. Per Briter Bridges, only 3% of the total funding raised by startups in Africa since 2013 has gone to all-women co-founded teams. Collective stakeholder efforts are crucial to increasing female representation in and contribution to the startup space, which remains minute against a faster-growing percentage of men-run ventures.