Mobile Money Limited CEO advocates deepened trust to drive financial innovation

Chief Executive Officer of Mobile Money Limited Ghana, Shaibu Haruna has underscored the importance of fostering deeper relationship and trust between banks, fintechs, and mobile money providers to fuel economic growth and financial innovation.

Contrary to popular perception, he highlighted the longstanding collaboration between banks, fintechs, and mobile money providers, stressing the imperative of working together to expand the financial ecosystem.

“Imagine our world today without innovation and without what mobile money is doing to the economy. That would be something you cannot even imagine today. But it has taken the work that we have done together with all partners, banks, fintechs, to bring it all together to support the growth of the ecosystem.

“We are at a point where we can propel this by deepening the relationship that we have and ensuring that there is a trusting relationship going forward with a common vision around the purpose of why we are doing all this,” he noted.

He said this in an interview with the B&FT on the topic “Banking and FinTech Intersection: Balancing Innovation, Risks, and Inclusion” at the 3i Africa Summit which brought together key players in the financial, investment, policy-regulatory and digital technology domains in Africa.

Africa currently boasts over 489 million mobile phone users, a number expected to reach 700 million by 2030 indicating the potential of mobile technology to accelerating fintech and the finance ecosystem.

Calculated risk-taking

Acknowledging the concerns surrounding risk management amidst rapid growth, Mr. Haruna advocated for calculated risk-taking within regulatory frameworks.

He emphasised the critical role of compliance and self-regulation in ensuring customer protection and sustainable business operations.

“For us as business people, we need to take some risk, but it has to be calculated risk and also within the confines of regulation and compliance. As a financial sector player, compliance is a very important element of what you do. This is very necessary to protect the customer and also to ensure a sustainable business operation. As a non-starter, you need to keep balancing.

“There are regulations that you need to abide by, but there’s also an even more important bit, which is self-regulation and also setting your bar over and above what the regulation mandates. We operate in a very dynamic environment and you have to constantly assess the environment and see what you can do to reinforce and ensure that you minimise the risk around,” he noted.

Considering global tech giants, he emphasis the need for strategic partnerships to drive growth and innovation adding that unleashing the potential of the continent’s digital economy also demands deepened trust.

He also pointed out MTN’s role as a platform facilitating collaboration, providing a stable infrastructure for transactions and encouraging participation from banks and fintechs to deliver value to customers.