FirstBank recently sponsored the Canada-Africa Fintech Summit (CAFS 2025), held from August 5–8 at the Sheraton Centre in Downtown Toronto, in its efforts to reinforce its commitment to tech advancement.
Convened by Dr. Segun Aina, President of the African Fintech Network, the summit brought together top fintech leaders, regulators, startups and investors from Africa and Canada to discuss scalable digital solutions, boost investment flows, and drive inclusive economic growth across both continents.
With over 131 years of financial services leadership, FirstBank’s sponsorship underscored its commitment to fostering cross-border collaboration, financial inclusion, and transformative innovation in the global fintech space. “Our support of CAFS 2025 reflects our belief that collaboration between African and Canadian fintech ecosystems can lead to transformative innovations. FirstBank is proud to help shape that future,” said Olayinka Ijabiyi, Acting Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications at FirstBank.
On a high-level panel alongside Rudy Cuzzeto, MPP for Mississauga–Lakeshore, and David Stevenson, Country Director for the United Nations World Food Programme (Nigeria), FirstBank’s Group Executive for E-Business & Retail Products, Chuma Ezirim, stressed the importance of regulatory alignment and trust-building in digital finance. “We’re building APIs that understand regulatory bifurcation, who has access to what, and why. Technology is the easy part. The real challenge lies in maintaining security, consent, and performance,” he noted. “In Nigeria, fintech has evolved beyond disruption to convergence, integrating banks, fintechs, and regulators into an agile and accountable ecosystem.”
Ezirim further emphasized that clear regulations are crucial for attracting private investment and strengthening public trust in fintech. “The more we collaborate, the more lessons we learn, and the greater the benefits for consumers,” he said.
In another panel session, Rachel Adeshina, FirstBank’s Chief Technology Officer, shared how the bank is leveraging artificial intelligence to bridge the credit gap for the underbanked. “We’re addressing data poverty by using AI to interpret alternative data, allowing us to lend to individuals who might otherwise be invisible to the traditional credit system,” she explained. She revealed that FirstBank has disbursed over N1 trillion in digital loans through this AI-driven model, with a repayment rate exceeding 99%.
Adeshina credited this success to a supportive regulatory environment, saying, “This innovation was enabled not only by technology but also by API banking regulations, data privacy laws, and a shift from account-based to wallet-based banking.” She also underscored the need for interoperability to achieve scale, noting, “In a fragmented continent like Africa, digital scale will come from interoperability. Connecting the 54 markets is the next big challenge, and fintechs are ideally positioned to lead that initiative.”
The summit was part of Canada’s wider Africa Strategy, which seeks to strengthen economic partnerships, deepen digital cooperation, and promote innovation exchange. With Africa’s digital finance ecosystem expanding rapidly and Canada advancing its open banking framework, CAFS 2025 provided a timely platform to align strategies and forge impactful partnerships.
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