Fingo Africa, the first online fully digital bank sets a footprint in the Kenyan banking sector. Fingo was one of the African startups to be part of the Y-Combinator (YC), which raised a sizeable seed capital, valuing its business at more than $10 million (Sh1 billion at the time of valuation).
This neobank just received its regulatory approval from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) enabling its rollout of services in the Kenyan market. The move sets it as a pioneer in achieving the first digital-only bank status in the country.
Through a partnership with Ecobank, Fingo is set to enjoy market access to Ecobank’s 33+ markets commencing with its setup in the Kenyan banking sector. With the rapid embracing of digital banking, Fingo is prospective to attain greater heights as it offers an answer to the demand.
Evidenced by a recent report that shows nearly half of the customers’ requests in relation to bank services last year were not answered, keeping the majority of Kenyans from opening accounts with some lenders.
The Kenya Banking Sentiment Index 2022 by Deloitte and DataEQ shows that 47.1 percent of queries on the social media platforms Twitter, such as signing up with the banks and pricing loans, went unanswered.
This phenomenon can be attributed to the highly reigning use of social media platforms including Twitter, and Facebook for engagements with service providers and businesses across various ranges.
“On average, only 52.9 percent of service-related priority tweets received a public response. A possible reason for this poor responsiveness is the high ratio of non-priority to priority conversations on social media,” the report said.
Fingo thereby is mainly targeting this online addiction as a tool to capture its users mainly targeting the youth’s entry and increase in the banking system as it offers a paperless service.
“Youth in Africa struggle to access financial services, taking between 48 hours and two weeks to open an account, with multiple in-person interactions and requirements to bring physical paper documents,” said the firm.
Edging the traditional banking systems, Fingo Africa is set to enter the sector with a boom as the banking sector tries to keep up with the pace of digital services essentially called for and required by customers.
