Traditional banks in Africa have been advised to forge a partnership with fintech startups and technology companies with a view of leveraging on one of their most significant assets – client trust.
A recent report by CR2, world-leading vendor within the digital banking platform market, with a market leadership position in Africa, urges financial institutions that wish to accelerate their advance to success in the fintech space to forge partnerships with fintech startups and technology companies.
“Having such partnerships, as well as their longstanding client networks and more defined regulatory environment, means financial institutions can still grow their share of Africa’s digital market.
To illustrate the importance of the collaboration between banks and fintech, the CR2 report makes reference to the story of how one Nigerian bank, GTB, lost clients after its mobile banking platform went offline.
The report then contrasts GTB’s misfortunes with the rise of the VC-backed fintech startup Kudabank, which saw its customer base rise from 300,000 to 1.4 million in less than three years.
However, the report argues that traditional financial institutions can still compete with VC-backed fintech startups if they decide to leverage their most significant asset: client trust.
This perceived client trust advantage is backed up by a fintech study conducted in Nigeria by the consulting firm McKinsey Consulting.
According to the findings of the study, about 67 percent of bank customers in Nigeria had more trust in their bank than in fintechs.
