An FPC, FCO, City of London and 'This is Africa' conference

DATE: Wednesday 28 March 2012

TIME: 10.00am - 5.00pm (registration from 9.30am)

VENUE: City of London venue (tbc)

PLEASE NOTE: Attendance at this conference is strictly by invitation only as places are limited. For more information, or if you would like to be considered for registration, please email your details including any organisational affiliation to: events@fpc.org.uk

Speakers will include:

• Baroness Lindsay Northover, Government Whip & Spokesperson on International Development
• Sam Gyimah MP, UK Parliamentary International Development Committee
• Chi Onwurah MP, Shadow Minister Innovation Science & Digital Infrastructure
• Gilbert Mbesherubusa, Vice President, African Development Bank
• Susie Lonie, Co-Creator, M-PESA and SJL CS Ltd
• Michael Joseph, Vodafone Group & World Bank Adviser
• Lanre Akinola, Editor, This is Africa (Financial Times Ltd)
• Claire Alexandre, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Mahesh Mishra, UK Department for International Development
• Quan Le, GMX Consulting Ltd
• V. Claude Ramazani Mwambo, Central Bank of the Congo
• Usoro Anthony Usoro, MTN
• Christine Hougaard, Finmark Trust
• Leon Isaacs, International Association of Money Transfer Networks
• Shane Riedel, Director, Compliance, Citigroup
• Dominic Peachey, Flawless Money Ltd
• Lucy Kinunda, Director, National Payment Systems, Bank of Tanzania
• Lola Adebanji, EMEA Regional Lead, Mobile Initiatives, Citigroup
• Eli Hini, MTN Ghana
• Cicero Torteli, Freeddom
• Matthew Dill, Visa Inc
• Prateek Shrivastava, Monitise Group Plc

Revenues from mobile payment transactions through mobile money payments services such as M-PESA in Kenya are estimated to reach approximately US$265 billion by 2015, up from approximately US$25 billion in 2010. Much of the innovation and revenue opportunities are concentrated in the developing world and high growth emerging economies in regions such as Africa, Asia Pacific (APAC) and the Middle East, where more than one billion people have access to a mobile phone but little, if any, have access to formal financial services. Across these regions, the mobile money user base will account for almost 85 per cent of mobile money users worldwide by 2013. The Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) in partnership with the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and in association with the City of London and This is Africa, the FT's bi-monthly magazine, are hosting this one day London conference focused on how to regulate and expand the provision of mobile payments services across Africa and beyond. The event aims to develop an evidence-based understanding of the risks and challenges associated with regulating and expanding mobile payments services in a global age of financial austerity and economic uncertainty. Through a series of main plenary sessions and working group discussions, the aim of the event will be to bring together and pool the thinking of many of the experts and specialists operating in the global mobile money sector. The conference seeks to promote greater dialogue, an exchange of ideas and partnership between financial regulators, telecommunications network providers, manufacturers, banks (and financial institutions), technology providers, development practitioners, consumer groups and many other key stakeholders. After the event, three outputs will be produced: a short set of regulatory framework guidelines and principles outlining what effective regulation might look like; a concise toolkit outlining how effective regulation might be implemented, scaled up and replicated in specific economies; and a collection of short articles focused on key issues related to regulating and expanding mobile payments services.

Download Conference flyer (240 kilobyte PDF)

Monday 28 March 2011

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) roundtable

Speakers included:

• Henry Bellingham MP, UK Minister for Africa, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• H.E. Abdulkareem H. Jama, Minister of Information, Posts & Telecommunications, Somalia
• Dr Louis Kasekende, Deputy Governor, Bank of Uganda
• Mahesh Mishra, Private Sector Development Adviser, Investment & Finance Team, Department for International Development (DfID)
• Michael Ward, Head of Commercial Diplomacy Taskforce, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)
• Lanre Akinola, Associate Editor, This is Africa, Financial Times Ltd
• Funmilayo Omogbenigun, General Manger, Corporate Communications, MTN Nigeria
• Adela Klirova, Public Policy Executive, Emerging Markets, Vodafone Group External Affairs
• Kwaku Ofosu-Adarkwa, Chief Director (Permanent Secretary), Ministry of Communications, Ghana
• Quan Le, Associate Director, PwC
• Susie Lonie, Co-Creator, M-PESA, Vodacom
• Eric Coffie, Head, M-Commerce, Airtel Africa
• Ireti Samuel-Ogbu, Managing Director, Cash Management Head, Africa, Citigroup
• Tomasz Smilowicz, Managing Director, Global Head of Mobile Solutions, Citi Global Transaction Services
• Abdirashid Duale, British Somali entrepreneur and CEO, Dahabshiil (one of Africa's largest money transfer agencies)
• Shaygan Kheradpir, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Global Retail Banking Division, Barclays
• Sally Axworthy, Head of Department for East Africa, Great Lakes and Strategy, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)
• NneNne Iwuji-Eme, Head of Great Lakes Section, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)

This event explored how the success of mobile banking in countries such as South Africa and Kenya might be scaled up and replicated in other economies such as Ghana and Nigeria, where mobile phone penetration is good but markets hold great potential for further expansion. The event also examined those economies where mobile phone penetration is low and where technological innovation could provide limitless opportunities to rapidly bridge the development gap. In particular, the event sought to establish concrete recommendations for how to maximise the development impact of mobile banking services by creating an enabling and robust regulatory climate and competitive environment which promotes accessibility and for mobile banking service users, while developing a healthy investment climate to attract both domestic and foreign investors.

The event brought together approximately 50 participants from business and enterprise across the banking and telecommunications sectors, both in the UK and from Africa, as well as representatives from the UK and African governments and agencies (including regulators), as well as other key stakeholders.

Please see the links below for the concept note and speaker presentations.

Download Concept note - The African growth revolution? (180 kilobyte PDF)

Monday 28 March 2011

Please click below for Funmi Omogbenigun's presentation (General Manager, Corporate Communications, MTN Nigeria)

Download Funmi Omogbenigun's presentation (460 kilobyte PDF)