AITEC BANKING & MOBILE MONEY COMESA 2010: Nairobi to host regions top banking conference next week

Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, will open AITEC’s annual Banking & Mobile Money Conference for the COMESA region, to be held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre over 24-25 February.  Over 300 bankers, mobile operators, regulators and other professionals in the financial services sector will attend the two-day conference.

The conference will play an important role in reinforcing Nairobi’s role as the region’s financial services centre, and the theme “Leadership through Innovation” reflects the country’s leadership position in mobile banking.  Announcing the conference, Sean Moroney, Chairman of AITEC, said the event is an important platform to showcase the exciting mobile payments innovations currently being implemented in Africa. “When we started this conference series four years ago, the emphasis was on East Africa learning from the rest of the world, now bankers, mobile operators and others wanting to learn about mobile banking will be coming to Nairobi to learn from innovators in the region.”

The conference programme  includes nearly 100 local and international speakers. Keynote speakers are:
• Charles Niehaus, GM, Visa Sub-Saharan Africa, speaking on “The benefits of electronic payments in driving economic development”
• Bernard Matthewman, CEO, Paynet Group, whose presentation is entitled “Shh, the market is talking. Listen and act!”
• Barry Coetzee, CEO, iVeri, South Africa will speak on “Multi-channel payment systems”
• Bala Sanga, Principal Staff Officer to the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Nigeria, will brief delegates on his country’s campaign against cybercrime.
• Tim Smyth, MD of MillwardBrown, will speak on “Consumer interaction and response to the evolution of the financial services”
• Dr Keith Jefferis, Economic Advisor, USAID Southern African Trade Hub, Botswana and former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Botswana, will speak on “Product innovation and access to finance”.

Julius Kipng’etich, Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service will make a special presentation on the second morning of the conference on “Thinking out of the Box for Bankers”. And Dr Bitange Ndemo, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information & Communications, will make the closing presentation on “Kenya’s 2030 Vision, with special reference to the Financial Services Section of the Athii River Technology Business Park”.

The conference has widespread industry support, with the Paynet Group as platinum sponsor, Sun Microsystems and Technology Associates as gold sponsors and S1 as silver sponsor. Supporting Organisations for the event include the Kenya Bankers Association and the Kenya ICT Board. CGAP is holding a workshop on management systems for microfinance institutions, linked to the conference. The Gates Foundation will hold a breakfast briefing for bank CXOs during the conference on providing banking services for the unbanked.

The conference will have 22 specialised sessions over the two days. “We are assembling a faculty of banking, microfinance and mobile payment experts with an unparalleled level of expertise. Speakers from 15 countries will be sharing their knowledge with financial service professionals from throughout the COMESA region,” said Moroney. Speakers are from the following countries:

Kenya , South Africa, UK, USA, France, Nigeria, Tanzania, India, Uganda, Egypt, Ethiopia, Cyprus, Canada

Session topics include:
•  Mobile banking - New technology and regulatory frontiers and challenges for banks and mobile operators
• Compliance & risk management in the post-meltdown world
• Understanding the generation y customer: service excellence, cross-selling & market intelligence
• Are the region’s financial institutions winning the war against card fraud?
• Interbank payment reforms – new transaction & settlement systems
• Solutions for investment banks & stock exchanges
• Microfinance innovation and new frontiers
• Regional banking: technology challenges in cross-border, multi-country operations
• The new financial services ecosystem – challenges of integration in cards, cheques & mobile
• Communication systems for banks
• New channels - branchless, agent & post-office banking
• Mobile banking implementation in the real world
• Outsourcing, shared infrastructure and hosted services models
• Core banking integration - incorporating new services and innovations: insurance, assurance, stocks & shares
• Disaster recovery & business continuity

The event has attracted widespread industry support. The Paynet Group is Platinum Sponsor for the fourth year running. Gold Sponsors are Sun Microsystems and Technology Associates, Silver sponsors are S1, Safaricom/M-PESA and Misys. Copy Cat and Seven Seas are Bronze Sponsors. Kenya Data Networks are the Internet Sponsor for the event and are also sponsoring the Networking Cocktail Reception at the event. Renaissance Capital is Hospitality Sponsor and Mobicash is sponsoring the delegate bag.

“The total value of sponsorship support has increased from $70,000 last year to $120,000 this year,” said Moroney, reflecting a substantial increase in industry support for and commitment to the event as an educational and marketing platform for the industry.”

Supporting Organisations for the event, who provide non-cash support and inputs, include Digital Age Institute, Kenya Bankers Association, FSD Kenya, The Kenya Credit & Debit Card Association, Kenya Commerce Exchange Service Bureau, The Kenya Association of Microfinance Institutions, Grameen Foundation, the Kenya ICT Board, DOT Connect Africa and the International Association of Mobile Transfer Networks.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is sponsoring a breakfast on the first morning of the conference for bank CEOs from throughout the COMESA region to brief them on success factors in mobile banking. The Minister of Finance will be Guest of Honour at the breakfast.

“We are proud of the event’s role in bringing together a wide range of stakeholders in the region’s mobile money and financial services sector, facilitating business networking and information sharing which we are confident will result in substantial new business ideas, business deals and partnerships,” said Moroney.

The theme of the event is “Banking Leadership through Innovation”  and as part of the drive to promote innovation, AITEC is featuring three Young Innovators in the programme to enable them to showcase their products. They are Agosta Liko, Founder of PesaPal, Danson Muchemi, CEO of Web Tribe and Philip Nyamwaya, Head of Business Development - Enterprise Applications at Intrepid Data Systems.
 
The event will include a specialised exhibition on products and services for the financial services sector, with over 44 exhibitors, 20 of whom are international.