Interswitch Champions Infrastructure-Led Growth in Africa’s Fintech Sector at The Borderless Experience 2026 in Lagos
Interswitch Group reaffirmed its dedication to strengthening the foundational infrastructure essential for sustainable financial innovation across Africa at The Borderless Experience 2026, organised by Condia and held in Lagos on Friday, August 21, 2026.
During a fireside chat on the future of African fintech, Akeem Lawal, Managing Director of Payment Processing & Switching at Interswitch Purepay, underscored the vital importance of collaboration among fintechs, commercial banks, infrastructure providers, and regulators. He emphasised that a resilient, trustworthy, and compliant financial ecosystem is key to scalable growth.
In conversation with Kemi Okusanya, CEO of Zest, moderated by Benjamin Dada, Founder & Publisher of Condia, Lawal highlighted that “fintechs cannot – and should not – be expected to solve the challenges of financial innovation alone.” He stressed that “the need for commercial banks and infrastructure providers to create the compliant and transparent layers that enable fintechs to focus on innovation” is essential for progress.
For Interswitch, this approach reflects a core principle of Africa’s digital financial evolution: innovation is only as powerful as the infrastructure that supports it.
As fintechs continue to revolutionise how individuals and businesses access and transfer money, trusted infrastructure providers are becoming crucial players in establishing secure, compliant, and resilient financial ecosystems. The collaboration among innovators, established financial institutions, infrastructure providers, and regulators will be pivotal in ensuring Africa’s fintech revolution is both rapid and sustainable.
Lawal’s insights at The Borderless Experience exemplify Interswitch’s broader leadership in shaping the future of payments and financial infrastructure across Africa — advocating for an ecosystem where innovation and infrastructure develop hand in hand.
On the horizon for cross-border and contactless payments, Lawal noted that “trust remains the larger obstacle, since customers tapping a card without entering a PIN often assume the transaction is less secure than it actually is.”
He concluded with a powerful reminder: “The future of fintech is not simply about building revolutionary products. It is about building the infrastructure that allows that revolution to endure.”
