About 45 per cent of adults in Africa do not have access to financial ser­vices, the State of Inclusive Instant Payment Systems in Africa Report 2024 has revealed.

Additionally, the report, the 6th to be published by Afri­caNenda Foundation, stated that about 400 million people could not access digital tools to ac­cess financial services and build financial resilience.

It was commissioned by the AfricaNenda Foundation in col­laboration with the World Bank and the Economic Commission of Africa.

The Bank of Ghana and GhIPPS supported the launch.

The report provides a com­prehensive analysis of SIIPS’s penetration in Africa and how instant payment promotes financial inclusion in Africa.

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison, in a speech read on his behalf by the Director of Fintech and Innovation, Kwame Oppong, at the launch in Accra yesterday described the report as compre­hensive.

He said it represented the commitment of Africans to promote the future of sound financial health of Africans.

Dr Addison stated that the report highlighted the successes of instant payment in Africa and the challenges that must be addressed.

The Governor entreated the participants' programme to focus on innovations that fostered economic resilience.

“As we launch the SIIPS, we must focus on the transformative power of instant payment,” Dr Addison stated.

In this direction, Dr Addison noted that instant payment must be accessible, secure and friction­less.

The Chief Executive Offi­cer of AfricaNenda, Dr Robert Ochola, indicated that though the report highlighted Africa's successes in instant payment in terms of value and volume, much still needed to be done to deepen instant payment in Africa.

He said Africa must double its efforts to address the barriers that hinder instant payment.

He said Africa needed to harness its resources to develop the continent.

He outlined that the pillars of the African transformation would depend on financial inclusion.

To this, the CEO of Afri­caNenda called for an enabling regulatory environment to pro­mote instant payment in Africa.