NAIROBI, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The central banks of Kenya and Singapore will stage the inaugural Afro-Asia FinTech Festival in Nairobi in July to focus on sustainable finance.
The July 15-16 festival, the first of its kind globally, will provide a platform for connections, collaborations and exchange of ideas between Africa and Asia, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said Thursday in a joint statement.
"The festival will explore financial services innovations from emerging Afro-Asian markets that can transform legacy systems, and bring about lasting environmental and social benefits for citizens and society," the statement said.
CBK governor Patrick Njoroge said "cross-border cooperation is increasingly important as global problems cannot be resolved in isolation."
"We need to come together as a global community to learn from each other and co-create solutions that will improve the lives of our people," he said.
According to the CBK, the conference will see robust discussions around artificial intelligence, big data, cyber security and technology risks.
Participants will also discuss "social impact," which looks at impact investing as well as micro, small and medium enterprise financing, and explore the evolution of mobile financial services and digital pension.
MAS managing director Ravi Menon said Kenya and Singapore share a vision to build an Afro-Asia platform to synergize efforts in fintech innovation.
"With Kenya and Singapore as the starting points, we hope to bring our two regions closer together to innovate and make financial services more accessible and affordable for our people," Menon said.
