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Sunday, May 10, 2015 

African transfers top SWIFT money deals

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - African payment traffic volumes  through the banking sector last year grew by 13.2% compared to the  8.8% growth worldwide writes PAUL TENTENA.

Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) last week said its payment business in Africa has outperformed total growth of the business globally. 

SWIFT provides a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, standardized and reliable environment. It also sells software and services to financial institutions, much of it for use on the SWIFTNet Network.

During the 22nd SWIFT African Regional Conference hosted this year in Cape Town, Christian Sarafidis, the Deputy Chief Executive EMEA, SWIFT, said “Through the development of the SWIFT index*, we know that SWIFT data is closely correlated to economic activity,” he said.

He said, “Rising SWIFT traffic volumes are therefore an indicator of economic growth. The figures revealed today show strong organic growth across Africa and in East Africa particularly, and serve as validation of the positive growth trends we are witnessing in the region.”

East Africa has witnessed particular growth. In Kenya, payment message traffic rose by 23.1% while securities related growth was a startling 122.3%. In Tanzania, payments rose by 32.9% and securities by 45%, and in Uganda, payments were up by 17.5% and securities rose by 31.6%.

In addition, SWIFT traffic between African countries recorded its highest ever growth rate underpinning the evolution of the intra-African transaction corridors.

Hugo Smit, Head of Sub-Sahara Africa, SWIFT, said: “Africa is an important market for SWIFT. Once again it has outperformed most of our other regions and has proven itself a critical component of our global business. Because the continent has such huge growth potential, we are continuing to invest more resources to support the local financial community.

By Paul Tentena, Sunday, May 10th, 2015