Orange Business Services and Genesis Analytics have signed a partnership agreement to jointly serve the financial services industry in Africa and the Middle East.

The partnership is focused on providing strategy consultancy to prepare financial institutions to launch new digital ecosystem banking services, according to a statement released by Orange.

"It will also help these financial institutions address the increasing disruption of innovative mobile payment and digital banking business models with a full portfolio of digital capabilities," reads an excerpt from the statement.

The partnership is said to be a combination of Genesis Analytics' African and Middle Eastern expertise in regulatory economics, strategy and market research with the Orange capabilities in digital, cloud and network services.

Richard Ketley, Managing Partner of the Financial Services Strategy practice at Genesis Analytics, said, "Banks and regulators in Africa and the Middle East are looking for digital partners to support them in their digital transformation journey, from strategic regulatory advice and building co-innovation sandboxes to hosting banking solutions in the cloud. Together with Orange Business Services we are now able to offer these new digital services to our large established customer base in the region."

Pieter Zylstra, Regional Director Digital Transformation and Financial Sector Lead for Middle East, Africa and Turkey at Orange Business Services, added: "The financial services sector worldwide is disrupted by rapid consumer adoption of new technologies and changing regulatory frameworks on payments, privacy and cloud computing. These changes require banks to alter their operating models, especially in Africa and the Middle East. Combining digital banking solutions from Orange with Genesis Analytics' deep regulatory understanding of the African and Middle East financial sector provides our customers with a better service to address financial inclusion challenges ahead."

Orange Business Services, which is active in 220 countries and territories, is a global digital transformation partner for over 3,000 enterprises.

Genesis Analytics was established in 1998 and according to information supplied is the largest economics-based consultancy firm in Africa, with offices in Johannesburg, Nairobi and Lagos.

In mid-June 2019 Orange Business Services appointed Sahem Azzam as Vice President Middle East and Africa.

The company said Azzam will be based in the regional headquarters at Dubai Silicon Oasis in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and takes over regional leadership from Luc Serviant.