‘Seychelles can be a financial technology hub for Africa’ |02 December 2011

“Being an archipelago in the African continent with a small population, Seychelles has the natural advantage for creating a niche for itself in the financial technology space. It has the potential to become the Financial Technology Hub for African countries and extend its expertise to neighbouring countries and position itself as a global financial technology stronghold. The late adoption of automation will be a boon for Seychelles since they will get the most advanced technology unlike some developed countries which still run on legacy systems.”
 
This was said by Arun Jain, chairman and chief executive of Polaris Financial Technology Ltd. (POLS.BO) -- a leading global financial technology company -- while addressing the 17th anniversary lecture of the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) as a guest speaker.

Mr Jain shared the dais with President James Michel, the Governor of CBS Pierre Laporte, and the chairman of the Seychelles Bankers Association Michael Benstrong, who is also the managing director of the Seychelles Savings Bank.
 
Addressing ministers, foreign dignitaries, bureaucrats, bankers, businessmen and academicians during the event and speaking on the theme of “Technological Innovations Driving Financial Services”, Mr Jain deep dived into the ever evolving financial technology space which has been at the forefront of economic growth globally.

Seychelles being an island nation, he stressed the role of Smarter Identity - Single Identity for every citizen which could be used for (a) banking transactions (b) social commerce transactions and (c) government to citizen transactions; and a Smarter Infrastructure - Shared Financial Technology Infrastructure where all banks invest as shareholders and pay-per-use to drive efficiency.
 
Contributed