Access Holdings PLC, a leading financial services group, has echoed the need for ethical considerations in using Artificial Intelligence (AI), calling stakeholders in the financial industry to factor its sustainability implications.

This call to action was driven by a compelling keynote address delivered by Lanre Bamisebi, Executive Director of IT & Digitalisation at Access Holdings, at the Smart Banking Summit 2024 held in Kenya on Wednesday.

Speaking on the topic, “AI Guardians: Securing Compliance and Mitigating Risks,” Bamisebi’s keynote shed light on the imperative to strike a balance between innovation and responsibility as the banking sector and broader society embrace AI’s transformative potential.

“Artificial Intelligence has the power to revolutionise our societies. Over the years, this has become increasingly evident, offering unprecedented opportunities for growth, efficiency, and innovation. From enhancing customer service to optimising risk management, AI’s potential benefits in finance are vast.

However, as we embrace AI, we must also ensure that its deployment is ethical, secure, and compliant with regulatory standards to mitigate risks effectively,” he said.

As the transformative power of AI continues to fuel innovation, concerns remain about its negative impact on the environment. According to OpenAI researchers, since 2012, the amount of computing power required to train cutting-edge AI models has doubled every 3.4 months.

They also posit that by 2040, the emissions from the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry will reach 14 per cent of the global emissions, with the bulk of those emissions coming from ICT infrastructure, particularly data centres and communication networks.

Speaking to these concerns, Bamisebi said, “The exponential growth of AI adoption must be met with thoughtful consideration for its environmental footprint. As we harness the power of AI, we must prioritise sustainable practices to mitigate its energy consumption and carbon emissions, ensuring a harmonious coexistence between technological advancement and environmental preservation.

“We must embrace our roles as guardians, and place comprehensive regulatory frameworks, ethical standards, and continuous learning at the fore of our considerations so that we create a future that is safe, inclusive, and prosperous for all,” Bamisebi charged.

Themed ‘Navigating the Next: Africa’s Leap into Smart, Secure, and Inclusive Banking’, the summit was a pivotal gathering of leaders spearheading the digital evolution in the African banking and finance space.

Other contributors at the summit include Winnie Kaaka, Head of Product and Digital Banking, Access Bank Plc; Harry Hare, Co-Founder and Chairman, dx5; Moses Okundi, CIO/CTO, Absa; Tim Theuri, CISO, Safaricom/M-Pesa Africa; Daniel Adaramola, CISO, SunTrust Bank Nigeria Ltd; Steve Njenga, Founder and CEO, Metis Technology Solutions Ltd, and more.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said that it will soon issue a framework that will guide the capital market in the proposed recapitalisation exercise by banks.

Dr. Emomotimi Agama, acting director General of the SEC, disclosed this during a meeting with the executives of the Institute of Capital Market Registrars (ICMR) in Abuja at the weekend.

According to the acting SEC DG, “We are on top of the issues around the recapitalisation exercise, very soon we will come up with a framework to guide the market.”

Agama also stated that the Commission is willing to interact with various segments of the capital market to ensure that all pending issues are resolved in the interest of the market.

Also speaking, Mr. Bola Ajomale, acting executive Commissioner Operations SEC, urged the registrars to embrace technology which he said is the best way to ensure timeliness and also sanitise the system.

He said “You are a major central point that we have worked with over time. There is risk because technology is competing with you. It will be useful to talk to your members to embrace technology as that is the best way to make life easy for everyone is to sanitise the system.”

In his remarks, Mr. Seyi Owoturo, resident of ICMR, said registrars have a duty to ask questions when transactions happen so as to make the market safe for everyone adding that with the banking recapitalisation coming, registrars need to embrace technology as there is going to be serious demands on their capacity.

Serigne Dioum, chief executive officer of MTN Group Fintech, has reaffirmed his outfit’s commitment to driving financial inclusion across Africa, leverag­ing innovative solutions to em­power individuals and businesses.

Recounting the Group’s jour­ney, he noted that it currently boasts of over 70 million custom­ers and an ecosystem of more than 2 million merchants across 16 operations.

He also highlighted the compa­ny’s success in lending, with over $2 billion disbursed in loans to cus­tomers last year, stressing that it is working towards building Africa’s largest FinTech platform by

“Our FinTech journey began in 2007 in Uganda, and since then, we have expanded our footprint across 16 operations… From humble beginnings as a wallet business, we have diversified our services to include payment, inter­national remittance, lending, and insurance… And now we have a business with more than 70 mil­lion users and more than 2 million merchants across our footprint, which is 16 operations.”

Despite significant growth, Mr. Diuom pointed out that 90 percent of transactions in Africa are still cash-based, indicating the vast untapped potential for digital financial services.

As such, he emphasised MTN’s role in addressing the prevalent cash-based transactions and low penetration of credit and insurance services through in­novative solutions and strategic partnerships.

He added that MTN Group Fintech is leveraging new technol­ogies such as blockchain and AI to enhance services and improve credit scoring.

“Our vision is to create a seamless ecosystem where any­one, from anywhere, can access financial services with ease. We think that the future for Africa, when it comes to Fintech is bright, because the African population is still growing, and the penetration of Fintech is still low. When it comes to fintech penetration, I think the number that comes to mind is that 90% of transactions are still cash-based.

“For us, we do not compete against any bank, but we compete against cash. And our work every day is to identify the use cases that are still touch base, and see how we can digitalize them for our platform,” he noted.