East Africa in recent years has been experiencing high economic growth rates, significant government reforms and a rapidly expanding middle class. With promising development prospects for East Africa, the region is expected to witness an annual growth average of more than four percent, however the overall depth and financial sophistication on the banking sector in East Africa remains low by global standards. The region's banks are generally well-capitalized and profitable but tend to focus most of their lending activity on financing large corporate clients and governments. SMEs and low and middle-class individuals too often remain formally unbanked.

The banking sector in East Africa has deepened remarkably in recent years and access to finance is increasing apace. In particular, East Africa leads the world in terms of the mobile banking technology adoption. The challenge is that regulation, supervision and resolution capacity have not yet caught up with these developments, which creates some bottlenecks for further expansion and raises concerns about systemic risk.

The East Africa Future Banking Summit will bring together regional banking gurus and FinTech leaders to share insights, discuss and deliberate on the future trajectory of the East African banking sector. The Summit comes at a time when the regional banking industry faces a new reality full of regulatory and compliance scrutiny, demanding customers and disruptive business models. In this scenario of uncertainty, financial institutions must closely control costs and derive benefits from innovative technologies to digitally transform every aspect of their existing business.

The Summit will focus on addressing several key technological changes taking place in banking – such as the growing role of data, the opportunities powered by cloud and the rise of digital and mobile technology that is affecting the entire banking landscape and its interaction with banked and unbanked customers. The East Africa Future Banking Summit will host thought leaders from premier financial institutions including Wycliffe Momanyi – CISO at Kenya Commercial Bank, Denis Echeru – Chief Risk Officer at Centenary Bank (Uganda), George Njuguna– CIO at Housing Finance Bank (Kenya), Michael Mbuthia – CIO at Kenya Bankers Association (Kenya), Paul K Mutai – Director of Operations at National Bank (Kenya), Gezahegn Dugassa – Director of Information Security at the Awash International Bank S.C (Ethiopia), Melaku Kebede – VP of Systems and e-Banking at United Bank S.C (Ethiopia), Mwanahamisi J Hussein – Head of Alternate Channels at KCB Bank (Tanzania), Vincent Wakaba – Head of Mobile Banking at Co-operative Bank of Kenya, John Njoroge – Head of Business Development at the i&M Bank Card Centre (Kenya), David Ndome – Regional Branch Business Manager at National Bank (Kenya), Aijaz Ahmad Shalla – Assistant General Manager of ICT at i&M Bank (Kenya) and Leon Kiptum – Head of Alternate Channels at Family Bank (Kenya) amongst others.

The East Africa Future Banking Summit will be held on the 19th and 20th of June 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya.