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Focusing on the needs of customers remains a challenge in Africa, according to the recent Savings and Retail Banking in Africa report published by the Scale2Save Programme this February. A partnership between the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) and Mastercard Foundation, Scale2Save finds that WSBI member banks offer a variety of accounts as part of their drive to attract and satisfy customers. But the report also notes that their product and service mix still falls short of customer needs.

The webinar presented key insights from the report and discussed major challenges to encourage savings for low-income customers following the four pillars of financial inclusion: usability, affordability accessibility and sustainability. Different perspectives from both the demand and supply side will be discussed. In addition, early findings from the 2020 research assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on banks in Africa were presented.

Moderator

Céline Stevens, World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI)

At WSBI, Céline Stevens is a financial inclusion and retail banking expert representing the interests of some 6,000 banks in 80 countries. She is the Program Manager for the Northern and Western African countries and data analyst under the Scale2Save Program, which is funded by the MasterCard Foundation.

Speakers

Jaco Weideman, FinMark Trust

Jaco Weideman has a passion for all things related to data science. At FinMark Trust, he focuses on supporting the data and analytics to align their efforts to the priorities of regulators, policy makers and financial services providers. He holds a masters degree in econometrics as well as an undergraduate in economics. Prior to his time at FinMark Trust, Jaco worked at South Africas largest retail bank building credit risk models.

Mukwandi Chibesakunda, National Savings and Credit Bank

Mukwandi Chibesakunda was appointed as the first female Chief Executive Officer at National Savings and Credit (NATSAVE) Bank in January 2018. Mrs. Chibesakunda holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Zambia, a Post Graduate Degree from the University of Manchester, and an MBA from Manchester Business School, UK. She is a former President of the Zambian Institute of Banking and Financial Services, and hails with wide experience in various Financial Service Industry roles.

Fabian Kasi, Centenary Bank

Fabian Kasi is currently the Managing Director of Centenary Bank, Uganda. Prior to this he worked for Bank of Uganda in the Banks Supervision Function for 8 years, then as Finance and Administration Manager for FINCA Uganda Ltd, before he started working as Chief Finance Officer for Banque Commerciale du Rwanda for one year. In 2002, he was appointed as Chief Executive Officer FINCA Uganda Ltd MDI, the very first licensed microfinance deposit taking institution in Uganda for eight years, until mid 2010 when he started working with Centenary Bank.

This webinar was hosted by the SEEP Network
in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation Savings Learning Lab and Itad.