Webinar

01
Apr
Webinar: Sub-Saharan Africa’s interbank markets: progress, barriers and policy implications

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A) in partnership with the Development and Economic Growth Research Programme (DEGRP) at ODI: A leading global affairs, are hosting a 2-webinar series based on DEGRP flagship publications.

Date: 01 April 2021, 1 pm GMT (Abidjan)

Background

In the last decade, there has been a broad deepening of the banking sector, with a notable expansion of financial access and strengthening of regulation across sub-Saharan Africa. Despite this progress, the banking sector in the region continues to suffer from a lack of competition, high borrowing costs, low levels of credit and a concentration of bank lending in the extractive sector. Interbank markets have a role to play in enabling economic growth, but this will only happen if efforts are made to develop and deepen them across sub-Saharan Africa.

The authors present a landscape of interbank markets, provide analysis of recent evidence on the factors that hinder their development, and draw attention to the policy implications for financial regulators.

Key findings include:

  • High market segmentation (due to differential interbank pricing and access to funds)
  • High levels of perceived risk (due to information asymmetry and ‘price stickiness’)
  • Financial regulators face challenge to mitigate financial contagion risks and should create market discipline as well as foster interbank market participation and competition.

This webinar will highlight the key findings, analysis, and insights of the research.

Speakers

Moderators: 

  • Victor Murinde AXA Chair in Global Finance & Director, Centre for Global Finance, SOAS University of London
  • Guy Menan, Research and Knowledge Management, MFW4A

Panellists:

  • Sherillyn Raga, Senior Research Officer, ODI’s International Economic Development Group
  • Judith Tyson, Development Finance Specialist, ODI

Guest speakers:

  • Esmie Kanyumbu, Senior Analyst-Financial Markets Development Reserve Bank of Malawi
  • Ingrid Hagen, Vice-President Strategic Projects, Frontclear Management B.V
  • Dr. Samuel TIRIONGO, Director, KBA Centre for Research on Financial Markets and Policy (Kenya Bankers’ Association)
  • Region
  • Language English