By Etop Ekanem

Group CEO of Pan-African fintech company, Cellulant, Akshay Grover, has said regulators need to create a level playing field for players in Africa’s digital payments ecosystem and ensure that the cost of transactions charged to end consumers using such platforms is reduced. 

Grover said this during a recent appearance on Arise TV’s Business Xchange while appraising Africa’s digital payments ecosystem. He noted that regulators of Africa’s financial sector have an important role in ensuring the growth of the digital payment platforms adding that big and small players in the ecosystem operate profitably.

“Regulators can play a significant role in making sure that the ecosystem is well balanced. By that, I mean that there is a level playing field for the innovative small companies versus the large institutions,” Grover said. 

He commended some of the regulators already playing a fantastic role and highlighted regulatory constraints around foreign exchange and foreign capital remittance on fintech operations.

“The need for fintech regulations cannot be over-emphasized, but there has to be a baseline. You cannot subject smaller fintech players to the same regulatory framework as large fintech companies; they will not survive. Regulators can play a vital role in driving further fintech development and digital adoption in Africa”.