The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank has awarded a grant of $320, 535 to the West African Monetary Agency to mainstream gender in ECOWAS’ core digital financial services (DFS) regulatory frameworks.

The funds will support a gender gap analysis of several WAMA strategies including those for financial inclusion; gender disaggregation data analytics; digital payment services and infrastructure; and digital identity.

 The project, to be executed over a three year period, will potentially affect 350 million people in all 15 ECOWAS nations:  Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Guinea, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

The grant will be disbursed through the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility, a blended finance vehicle, supported by the Bank.

“With a secretariat comprising all the 15 ECOWAS central banks, WAMA plays a pivotal role in the consolidation and implementation of strategic financial inclusion objectives. ADFI and the WAMA project team will work closely with other ecosystem players in the region to ensure harmonisation of efforts for maximum impact,” said Sheila Okiro, the ADFI Coordinator.

The project has the potential to raise by 35% women’s participation in digital financial market operations in the region, which has a higher gender disparity than other parts of the continent as reflected in its Gender Development Index of 0.825 versus the African average of 0.871. 

Africa has a gender-inclusion gap of 11% as compared to the global average of 9%  according to the 2017 Findex Report. To address this challenge, it is imperative that gender is mainstreamed across all functions but more so at the level of policy and regulation.

The project is aligned to ADFI’s strategic goals including its cross-cutting focus on gender inclusion, as well as the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy, Gender Strategy (2021-2025) and to the Integrate Africa High-5 strategic focus.

The Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (www.ADFI.org) (ADFI) is a pan-African instrument designed to accelerate digital financial inclusion throughout Africa, with the goal of ensuring that an additional 332 million Africans (60% of them women) have access to the formal financial system. ADFI’s current partners are the French Development Agency (AFD); the French Treasury, Ministry of Economy and Finance; the Government of Luxembourg’s Ministry of Finance; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and the African Development Bank, which also hosts the fund.

Luno Offers To Work With CBN, SEC On Cryptocurrency Regulatory Framework

Luno, global cryptocurrency platform which has over three million customers in Nigeria said today that it was ready to work with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulators to create a cryptocurrency regulatory framework for the country.

 On the back of the CBN’s recent crypto ban, the exchange details its strategy to navigate the impact of the CBN’s circular as well as deeper context on the ban’s effect on Nigeria’s crypto sector.  

It stated that Nigeria is among the world’s biggest users of cryptocurrency where it has worked hard to build a safe and transparent ecosystem for its Nigerian customers and today, Luno has more than three million customers in the country. 

A statement by Luno noted that this mission was unfortunately interrupted recently, when a Central Bank of Nigeria circular was published, prohibiting banks and other payment providers from working with cryptocurrency platforms. It shares the Central Bank of Nigeria’s concern for Nigerians, but feel that the approach it has taken here does not achieve the CBN’s objectives in this instance.

It says any attempt to restrict access to cryptocurrency does not protect Nigerians. “It holds them back and leaves them vulnerable. It prevents honest Nigerians from taking advantage of all that cryptocurrency has to offer them. It also leaves the regulators at a disadvantage. Blanket bans push people “underground” [i.e. trading via Whatsapp or Telegram groups, for example]. This makes activity involving transparency less transparent and means financial bodies have less visibility of what’s going on. 

“Pushing people underground also makes it easier for scammers to exploit Nigerians, and we are already seeing Bitcoin trade at huge premiums in the country as a result of the ban. Other companies have made the choice to find workarounds that are less visible for regulators – for example, Peer-2-Peer (P2P) trading,” it says.

According to Luno, “Our view is that P2P trading would go against the spirit of the CBN’s directive. We believe that the focus should instead be on demonstrating to the CBN that exchanges such as Luno have the necessary controls in place to address the concerns it has in relation to cryptocurrencies.”

It says Nigeria’s regulators have taken a pragmatic and forward-looking approach to cryptocurrency in the past, with the SEC even actively developing a framework to regulate. “We’re confident that this issue can be resolved quickly, so that Nigeria can continue to play a central role in the growth of cryptocurrency.

“This also isn’t the first time Luno has faced a situation like this. When the Malaysian Securities Commission introduced a new regulatory framework for crypto exchanges in the region, Luno worked with regulators to become the country’s first licensed exchange.

“This has created an inclusive and transparent cryptocurrency ecosystem in the country, making it easier for consumers and regulators alike. We would like to work with CBN and regulators in Nigeria as we have in other countries, to create an open dialogue and to come to a solution that works for everyone,” the statement concluded.