KBA Partners with Huawei to Expand Tech-driven Financial Inclusion

The Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) and Huawei Kenya on Tuesday September 15, 20signed a partnership seeking to expand financial inclusion in the banking sector through additional deployment of technology and enhancement ICT capacity.

Under the partnership, the two firms will promote financial inclusion activities in line with the KBA 2020/23 Strategic Plan launched last year to promote access to affordable financial services through tech-aided operational efficiency.

Dr. Habil Olaka, the KBA Chief Executive Officer, during the signing of the partnership said that the collaboration would go a long way in boosting the delivery of efficient banking services in Kenya through knowledge sharing programmes to be organized by the two.

The partnership, according to Olaka, “will further focus on research and knowledge-sharing activities, which will supplement the research initiatives that continue to be spearheaded by the Association’s Centre for Research Financial on Markets and Policy.”

“The collaboration will certainly augment KBA’s and member banks’ knowledge base in engagements with diverse stakeholders from a fact-based perspective,’’ Dr. Olaka added.

The partnership comes on the heels of the 2020 edition of the Huawei-KBA Online FSI Summit slated for 30th September 2020.

The summit is part of initiatives Huawei and KBA are jointly implementing to promote the delivery of efficient banking services through technology under the cooperation agreement. For instance, the two institutions are scheduled to hold an online FSI Summit at the end of the month.

Huawei Kenya Chief Executive Officer, Will Meng, said he expects it to further boost convenience in delivery of financial services on the wake of disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic.

Meng says  “The upcoming summit is one of the Initiatives we (Huawei) are rolling out in Kenya in partnership with the Association to ensure we optimally leverage on technology to achieve affordable and accessible Financial services in the regional economy.’’

The summit comes at a time when the global economy is grappling with the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Dr. Olaka notes that the banking industry continues to tap into the potential of technology to maintain business continuity and support customers, marking a climax of efficient deployment of technology by the banking sector during this period.

“Beyond the COVID-19 disruption, we see technology as an invaluable enabler of financial inclusion. I have no doubt that the summit along with the KBA-Huawei collaboration will play a significant role in our collective efforts to entrench technology in our operations and sustain our contribution to the national development agenda,’’ Dr. Olaka said.