NEWS
Kora highlights Africa’ s growing role in global payments conversations
Africa’ s growth potential was a recurring theme at iFX Expo
International 2026, with brokers, payment service providers and fintech companies increasingly looking to the continent as a strategic expansion market. Businesses operating across multiple regions increasingly require solutions that can support local collections, cross-border payouts and settlements through a single platform.
This was a recurring theme at iFX Expo International 2026 in Cyprus, where brokers, payment service providers and fintech companies gathered to discuss the future of trading, payments and customer acquisition.
Through conversations with industry players including B2Broker, Zotapay, Virtual Pay, Equals, Verify Africa, and Exness, Africa emerged as one of the most discussed growth markets. Participants highlighted the increasing demand for unified infrastructure that can simplify payment operations across multiple African countries.
Speaking during the panel session,“ Who Will Power the Future of Global Payments’’ Kora’ s Chief Financial Officer, Ayodeji Osisami highlighted why local expertise is essential to building payment infrastructure for Africa.” You can’ t serve a growing market by making assumptions. You have to be on the ground, understand what customers actually need, and build infrastructure that reflects the realities of each market.”
His remarks reinforced the importance of combining local market knowledge with scalable infrastructure to help global businesses expand confidently across the continent.
RACE 2026 puts Africa’ s RegTech ecosystem in the spotlight
The 2026 RegTech Africa Conference and Expo( RACE
2026) concluded on a landmark high, bringing to a close a three-day gathering of regulators, investors, technology innovators, policymakers, financial institutions, and startup founders from across the continent. Held at the prestigious State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja, the conference reaffirmed its standing as Africa’ s premier platform for advancing regulatory technology, digital financial services, and ecosystem-wide innovation – and this year’ s edition may have been its most significant yet.
RACE 2026 convened a rich cross-section of Africa’ s financial and technology leadership for panel discussions, workshops, and policy roundtables designed to address the continent’ s most urgent regulatory and digital transformation challenges. From central bank representatives and compliance professionals to venture capital investors and growth-stage founders, the conference created a uniquely convergent space – one where regulation, innovation, and capital could meet in productive conversation.
Among the highlights of the conference was the highly anticipated RegTech Africa Startup World Cup Abuja Regional Challenge, as a centrepiece event of the expo. Organised through a strategic partnership between RegTech Africa and Pegasus Tech Ventures – one of the world’ s most recognised startup pitch competitions – the Abuja Regional Challenge brought together 15 carefully selected startups drawn from hundreds of applications received across Africa. The finalists, representing sectors spanning fintech, regulatory technology, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and GovTech, pitched their solutions before a distinguished panel of judges, investors, and ecosystem leaders. Entries were evaluated on innovation, scalability, revenue potential, business sustainability, societal impact, and quality of presentation. •
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