Whose Customer Are You? The Reality of Digital Banking in the Middle East and Africa
Middle East markets have the digital edge over Africa’s mobile-focused offerings.
Africa and the Middle East share many common features: young populations, high smartphone penetration rates, and problems with unequal access to banks and banking services, particularly in rural areas.
These demographically young and fast-growing regions include hundreds of millions of consumers who are growing up with a deep attachment to their phones and the benefits that the internet has to offer. Historically, banks across the Middle East and Africa may have been slow to react to the demographic and technological changes around them, but this is no longer the case. Over two-thirds of African and Middle Eastern bankers (68% v 58% globally) now say adapting to new demands will have the biggest impact on their businesses.