The governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Rogério Zandamela, said that technological innovations in the financial sector should ensure financial stability and consumer protection.
The official was speaking during the launch of the fourth edition of the Regulatory Sandbox, an incubation project for fintechs (digital startups working to innovate and optimize financial services) developed by national entrepreneurs, which took place this Friday, January 27.
On the occasion, Rogério Zandamela said that technological innovations in financial services should add value to the national economy. “It is intended that this project meets the challenges imposed by technological innovation focused on financial services. However, the creation of conditions that favor technological innovation should not neglect the challenges linked to risk mitigation, financial stability, consumer protection and market conduct,” he explained.
According to the news portal O País, the fourth edition of the Regulatory Sandbox saw the participation of eight fintechs, of which five were approved and three did not meet the conditions.
“Of the eight fintechs in the fourth edition, five were approved: an e-KYC platform (Tablu Technologies), two of financial intermediation (DSD Capital and Thembani Africa), an economic and financial information platform (Mozeconomia) and a payment aggregator (Afrinova). The remaining ones are still in the process of being tested in real environment”, enumerated Zandamela.
For his part, the president of the Mozambican Association of Banks, Teotonio Comiche, would like to see technology-based services serve to promote financial inclusion.
“Our expectation is that the fintechs admitted in this edition can bring creative solutions that allow greater availability and equal opportunities for access to financial products and services at controlled costs,” he said.
The selected companies will make their products available in the market in partnership with authorized financial institutions, obtain a license from the Central Bank, and act in the market autonomously.
The Regulatory Sandbox is part of the implementation of the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 2016-2022, and one of its objectives is to increase the level of access and use of financial services for the Mozambican population.
