The governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles, Caroline Abel, who chairs AFI’s African Regional Policy Initiative (AfPI), visited AFI’s Africa Regional Office (ARO) in Abidjan this week as a show of her commitment to establishing a framework for engagement between AfPI leaders and the ARO. The two-day meeting from 3-4 August 2023, marked the first time an AfPI Chair visits the ARO.

Top of the agenda were the 2023-2024 financial inclusion deliverables which include ambitious targets to be supported by the ARO, notably boosting stakeholder engagement and capacity building for regional central banks, increasing virtual peer learning on Fintech oversight, and setting up an innovation hub to foster cooperation between AFI members in the region. The 2023-2024 action plan will be presented to the AfPI leaders at the upcoming Global Policy Forum in Manila.

“AFI’s African members are making tremendous progress in driving financial inclusion, and have ambitious plans for the future. Our Abidjan office plays a vital role in coordinating and leading AFI’s work across the Africa region, and as Leaders, it is important we remain engaged with the office to ensure that we achieve deliverables that we have set”, added Governor Abel.

Governor Caroline Abel meets Côte d’Ivoire Minister of the Economy and Finance, Adama Coulibaly

Governor Abel also met with the country’s Minister of Economy and Finance, Adama Coulibaly, and expressed her appreciation to Côte d’Ivoire for hosting the ARO since its launch in 2019:

“With its long-lasting friendship and shared ambitions for financial inclusion, I look forward to further strengthening collaboration between AFI and the Ministry of Economy and Finance. I believe that together we can make great strides in financial inclusion.”

During her visit, Governor Abel reiterated the need to forge even stronger engagement on the region’s financial inclusion goals, highlighting “sustained, solid dialogue” between regional leaders and the ARO team as being paramount to bridging the gap and supporting the implementation of AfPI’s 2023-2024 deliverables.

Her visit came a month after the Central Bank of Seychelles hosted highly successful joint meetings of AFI’s African and Pacific Islands regional initiatives, where discussions focused on how to enable inclusive fintech on the continent. Africa has witnessed an unprecedented rise in digital technology in recent years, and leaders in the financial system “see this challenge as an opportunity”, commented Governor Abel in an interview with AFI.