BANKING & PAYMENT TECHNOLOGIES EAST AFRICA 2009: Growing business support for banking technology conference in Nairobi

Safaricom is the latest corporate to commit sponsorship support for the annual Banking & Payment Technologies Conference taking place in Nairobi over 17-19 February, joining other leading solution providers for the financial services sector, including Paynet, Simba Technologies, Technology Associates, Postilion, and SBA Technologies from USA.

Announcing Safaricom’s commitment to support the conference as a Platinum Sponsor, Michael Joseph, CEO, said: “Safaricom M-PESA service has experienced phenomenal growth and this conference will provide an opportunity for the industry to take stock and explore areas of co-operation between banks and mobile operators.”

The other Platinum Sponsor of the event is Paynet, Kenya’s leading provider of ATM and other payment services for the banking sector. Bernard Matthewman, MD of the Paynet Group, welcomed Safaricom’s participation, saying, “Safaricom’s innovations in mobile money transfer technology have transformed Kenya’s financial sector and we are delighted to be partnering with them in supporting this key event that has an important role to play in further expanding the industry through the impact of its educational and marketing programmes.”

The three-day conference will gather bankers, insurance companies, regulators, consultants, microfinance institutions and banking system suppliers from throughout East Africa. The event’s exhibition will include a “Banking Mall” where banks have been invited to demonstrate their services and products, with the theme “See the Bank of the Future”. Major local and international suppliers of banking and payment technologies and systems will be exhibit in the “Technology Hub”.

AITEC Africa, organiser of the event, has appointed Joe DiVanna, world-renowned banking visionary, as conference chairman and he will be directing a conference speaker line-up of over fifty local and international experts, as well as contributing a keynote presentation on the theme of the conference, “Serving the customer through payment technologies”.

Another keynote speaker is Dr Raghavan Kunigahalli, Senior Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer of SBA Technologies of the USA. He will be speaking on “Branchless banking technology for risk-aware institutions”.