Leo Chen, president of Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa region.

Huawei has launched its Non-Stop Banking initiative and is calling for increased co-operation between the technology and banking industries to facilitate innovation in financial services across Africa.

The initiative was unveiled this week, at the Huawei Intelligent Finance Summit for Africa 2023, in Cape Town, with the company saying it plans to facilitate ‘a digital future of non-stop services, non-stop development, and non-stop’ innovation’.

Huawei noted the banking sector is evolving, embracing digitalisation and the global tech firm anticipates exponential growth in spending on technology coming from the banking sector.

The company forecast that artificial intelligence, big data and analytics, and cloud will see the largest investment as banks automate, digitalise, and become more data-driven and intelligent.

To this end, Jason Cao, CEO of Huawei Global Digital Finance, said: “The financial industry should pay acute attention to users and their demands, embracing changes

“Huawei is dedicated to helping its African financial customers address challenges and accelerate changes across six fields: shifting from transaction to digital engagement; cloud-native and agile businesses; data democratisation; secure and reliable infrastructure; hybrid multi-cloud and Lego-style modular services, and automated and predictable operation.

““In this way, Huawei will facilitate financial digitalisation and innovatively improve productivity in Africa. Revolving around stability, agility, and intelligence."

Over 200 delegates are taking part at the Huawei Intelligent Finance Summit for Africa 2023, including key industry opinion leaders, as well as executives from major banks across Africa.

Leo Chen, president of Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa region, gave the keynote speech at the summit bringing to light details of the company’s Non-Stop Banking initiative.

Chen emphasised the importance to the banking sector of deepening digital investments. He said also such investments will reduce operational costs, allow the institutions to develop new products, and enhance relationships with customers, resulting in increased revenues for banks.

In Africa, he added, there’s an even greater imperative for banks to embrace digitalisation, as it allows for greater financial inclusion.

In his speech, Chen spoke highly of the innovative work already undertaken by many African banks in embracing digitalisation, but recommended the industry needs to go further and embrace the ‘non-stop’ approach that will characterise the future of banking.

Over the years, Chen said, Huawei has provided the foundation and backbone for the digitalisation of the banking industry in Africa by supporting the construction of the continent’s ICT infrastructure and digital connectivity in rural areas.

Going forward, Chen said Huawei’s extensive focus on research and development is well-poised to help the industry shape its future too.