! innovations in finance offer new opportunities to the financial sector. this may especially be the case in africa, where these innovations are perhaps less of a “ threat ” to the traditional banking sector than in “ overbanked ” europe. but even more important in my view are the benefits of innovation for consumers and businesses. new technology in finance brings more choice, lower costs and greater convenience for users. this not only holds for advanced countries with well - developed banking sectors, but certainly also for africa with its many remote areas and still many “ unbanked ” inhabitants. indeed, a sustainable and prudent development and use of new technologies in finance will help to further promote financial inclusion in africa. and this is of vital importance. for this relationship between financial inclusion and economic growth has been clearly established time and again. financial services are the lifeblood of an economy. access to financial services allows households to smooth out consumption and invest in their future. for businesses, access to credit enables them to expand and to create jobs. financial inclusion, in short, is one key for promoting strong and stable economic growth. innovations in finance are perhaps the most promising way to advance financial inclusion. that is why it is so important that new technologies in finance are being exploited in africa, as this will help unlock the continent ’ s massive “ unbanked ” population. for companies involved in supplying this new type of services this implies that they will continuously need to embrace innovative strategies. in this way, they will be able to shape financial products to fit consumers ’ rising financial sophistication needs. recent history suggests that african companies are able to do so quite successfully. kenya, for instance, has led the world in innovative financial services based on mobile telephony by introducing m - pesa and m - pesa - derived systems such as m - shwari and m - kesho. this has made several financial services available to anyone with a mobile phone at a fraction of the cost. exploiting innovations in finance is one. strengthening institutions is the other. one of the most fundamental questions in economic science is “ why are some countries richer than others ”? differences in the quality of legal, political and educational institutions between countries turns out to be an important part of the answer. indeed, the strengthening of such institutions often goes hand in hand with higher economic growth : countries with stronger institutions experience stronger economic growth compared to countries with weaker institutions. there are several reasons why this turns out to be the case. strong institutions

provide for the protection of property rights ; foster contract enforcement ; create a healthy investment climate and help the development of abilities. this makes for an economic environment in which individuals and firms can cooperate, to everyone ’ s benefit. and, importantly, an environment in which innovations in finance can develop and thrive. therefore, strong institutions will enable countries to realize the full benefits of innovations in finance. research by the imf and the world bank shows that there is still plenty of room for africa on this front. continuing efforts to further strengthen institutions are therefore highly needed. personally, as an economist, i consider tackling deficiencies in property rights protection as the key challenge for african countries. after all, as several studies have shown, well - defined and strongly protected property rights go hand in hand with economic growth and development. let me conclude. i am optimistic on africa. innovations in finance will help africa get on in the world, especially when combined with a further strengthening of institutions. it goes without saying that this will also create new opportunities for dutch firms and entrepreneurs. i hope that this conference will contribute to exploiting these opportunities yet further. i thank you for your attention and wish you a fruitful conference!