African banks might speed up innovation by getting extra out of present payment programs as an alternative of investing in expensive replacements.
That was a key theme at BPC Client Conference 2026 in Cape Town, on Wednesday, the place bankers, funds specialists and cybersecurity consultants examined how monetary establishments can extract extra worth from present technology whereas assembly demand for quicker digital companies.
Jonathan Bautista, Asia-Pacific regional resolution director at BPC, a Swiss-based payment technology company offering digital banking, payment processing and mobility options worldwide, believes modernisation doesn’t should imply a expensive overhaul.
“One of the key lessons we have learnt in Asia-Pacific is that modernisation does not necessarily mean replacing an entire platform,” Bautista instructed TechCabal on the sidelines of the convention.
Getting extra out of present payment programs might assist banks introduce merchandise quicker, enhance buyer experiences and develop into new markets with out the fee and disruption of changing total platforms.
“Technology is important, but modernisation should ultimately be driven by business priorities and opportunities,” Bautista stated.
African banks face rising strain to ship the pace and comfort prospects anticipate from digital monetary companies. Many are investing in technology and increasing past conventional banking, however the alternative to enhance companies may additionally lie in making higher use of payment programs they already function
African banks are already spending closely on technology and producing substantial income from digital funds. TechCabal reported that eight major Nigerian banks earned ₦514.82 billion ($386.5 million) from digital funds within the first 9 months of 2025, whereas six banks spent ₦268.7 billion ($201.7 million) on IT infrastructure in 2024, together with core banking upgrades. Banks are also expanding into adjacent digital services, with lenders akin to FNB, Capitec, Standard Bank and Nedbank shifting into cellular connectivity.
A payment may seem to a buyer as a easy approval or rejection. Behind the scenes, an issuing platform can consider spending limits, fraud dangers, buyer behaviour and transaction-specific guidelines, Bautista defined.
These capabilities will help banks develop merchandise for various buyer teams. During his earlier presentation on the convention, Bautista described how present issuing technology might assist specialised company, provider and procurement playing cards, with guidelines tailor-made to how companies handle spending.
“Banks need to be able to launch new products quickly, introduce new services, apply different controls for specific customer segments, and integrate effectively with digital channels,” said Bautista.
Meanwhile, AI-based fraud detection is turning into more and more necessary in digital funds, as banks search to determine suspicious transactions with out unnecessarily blocking reliable ones.
Nasdaq Verafin’s 2026 Global Financial Crime Report estimated that cyber-enabled scams, together with phishing, enterprise electronic mail compromise and information breaches, triggered $14.3 billion in losses in 2025, up 19.6% over two years. In a survey accompanying the report, 90% of economic crime professionals stated AI-driven assaults had elevated at their establishments over the earlier two years.
Payment firms akin to Visa already use behavioural analytics to evaluate transaction threat, making the technology a part of a wider business shift. BPC is incorporating related capabilities into its fraud and threat administration programs, in response to Bautista.
“While a payment platform cannot necessarily prevent a deepfake itself, it can analyse the transaction associated with it and assess whether the activity is consistent with the customer’s usual behaviour,” Bautista stated.
Other AI purposes, together with transaction approval, routing and switching, and natural-language product configuration, stay in growth, he stated.
African banks’ wider alternative lies in understanding which capabilities their present payment programs can assist and tips on how to join them to the companies prospects use. As demand for quicker, extra versatile digital banking grows, extracting extra worth from present infrastructure might be as necessary as investing in new technology.
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