Industry scope & market sizes
The retail banking industry in East and Southern Africa is changing as mobile banking use deepens, digital financial services expand and consumer and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) demand accelerates. Financial inclusion and digital banking have become core drivers of economic growth across emerging markets, and the region reflects this global shift. Banks are redesigning their models to serve a young, digitally literate population that increasingly expects mobile-first services.
The reality is that East and Southern Africa are now part of a broader pattern in which emerging economies bypass traditional branch-led systems in favour of mobile money ecosystems. The GSMA’s 2024 Mobile Economy Report reinforces this trajectory, noting that mobile money platforms remain essential to widening financial access in underserved African markets, a dynamic that continues to reshape retail banking across the region.
28% of Africans have mobile internet access, which is low relative to other continents. The significant
