Accra and London, 17 June — Affinity Africa, Ghana’s leading digital banking platform, has released a new report in collaboration with the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and Yale’s International Leadership Centre examining the drivers and impacts of cash dependency in Africa and the steps required to address it. 

The full report is available for download here.

The research makes clear that Africa’s cash dependency is not a technology problem. The continent already processes 74% of global mobile money volume — representing $1.1 trillion in value across 1.1 billion accounts in 2024. The problem is that digital payments do not yet outperform cash for merchants, households, and small businesses, resulting in more than 90% of mobile money value being withdrawn immediately upon receipt.  

“The gap between the financial infrastructure Africa has built and the economic behaviour it was supposed to change is vast, and the cost of that gap compounds every year,” said Tarek Mouganie, Founder and Group CEO of Affinity Africa. “The problem is incentives. Digital payments do not yet outperform cash where it actually matters. Until digital is cheaper, more reliable, more accessible and more useful than cash at that level, the reality will not change” 

The dependency on cash has significant economic consequences. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which account for roughly 80% of jobs and are often entirely cash-based, receive less than 5% of bank credit — contributing to a $330bn financing gap. Disproportionately high remittance fees, averaging 8.7% against the 3% SDG target, drain a further $8 billion annually from African households. Meanwhile, 85% of African workers remain in the informal sector, outside the tax base, limiting governments’ capacity to fund essential services.  

“The SME financing gap, the annual remittance tax, the number of workers outside the formal economy — these are not inevitable features of the continent,” said Emma Sky OBE, Founding Director of Yale’s International Leadership Center. “They are the cost of an unfinished transition. Closing that gap is among the highest leverage moves available to anyone serious about Africa’s flourishing.”  

The report makes clear that the issue can be addressed if the development of digital infrastructure is aligned with incentives, setting out three core actions that must happen together and in sequence — each creating the conditions for the next — to break cash dependency: 

1. Make digital cheaper than cash for merchants: Regulators to cap merchant discount rates and provide fee subsidies for small merchants, while governments accelerate the shift by requiring digital payment acceptance for all government services, licences, and transfers. 

2. Mandate interoperability: Regulators to mandate real-time settlement across platforms, enforce cross-border connectivity within regional economic blocs, and apply financial penalties for non-compliance. 

3. Create reasons to stay digital: Regulators to give new digital innovators the headroom to offer credit, savings, and insurance products at scale; operators to provide transaction data as the basis for credit underwriting; and innovators to be given open APIs to build fintech products on existing payment rails. 

Alongside the three core actions, the research also includes a detailed overview of the responsibilities of the other relevant stakeholders across Africa’s digital financial infrastructure – including governments, banks, Development Finance Institutions and investors – and the lessons that can be learnt from other markets in Africa and around the world.  

“Incremental reform will not be enough. The public sector must move faster in building the regulatory clarity, institutional coordination, and governance frameworks capable of supporting Africa’s next phase of economic transformation,” said Mo Ibrahim, Founder and Chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. “Because ultimately, ownership cannot exist without accountability, and economic autonomy cannot exist without strong institutions.” 

The report calls actors to come together and address the issue as a matter of urgency. By 2050, one in four people in the world will be African — the window to get this right is narrowing, and the cost of incrementalism rises every year.  

The full report is available for download here.

Media contacts: press@affinityafrica.com and will.king@thorndonpartners.com

Accra, Ghana – 16 February 2026. Affinity Africa, Ghana’s leading digital banking platform, has joined forces, for the second time, with the Cisco Foundation and FINCA Ventures through a program aimed at advancing financial resilience across Africa. This funding is designed to support the acceleration of financial resilience across Africa by expanding Affinity’s financial education initiatives and increasing access to fair, digital financial services for underserved communities.

The collaboration focuses on empowering women, informal workers, and those previously excluded from the formal financial system. By leveraging targeted funding and technical assistance, the program enables social enterprises like Affinity to scale sustainable, community-focused solutions that bridge critical gaps in finance and technology.

Affinity is one of Ghana’s fastest-growing digital banking platforms, now serving more than 125,000 customers nationwide — 65% of whom were previously unbanked and 60% are women. After pioneering Ghana’s first fully digital onboarding (eKYC) and developing proprietary underwriting technology, Affinity is enabling fair, data-driven lending for informal workers who have long been excluded from the formal financial system, while deepening financial literacy and inclusion across the country.

The grant will support Affinity’s capacity to scale its impact, providing more individuals and small businesses with the tools to build credit and plan for their financial future. This initiative reinforces a shared commitment to sustainable growth and the expansion of formal banking to those in the informal sector.

Charu Adesnik, Executive Director, Cisco Foundation said, “The Cisco Foundation is dedicated to investing in social enterprises that drive tangible progress and close critical gaps in opportunity. Affinity Africa’s success in reaching the unbanked—particularly women and informal workers—demonstrates the transformative power of inclusive technology. We are proud to support their mission to deepen financial literacy and build a more equitable financial ecosystem in Ghana.”

“This recognition represents a strong vote of confidence in Affinity’s model and impact to date, and in our role in reshaping how financial services reach those historically excluded. With the support of the Cisco Foundation and FINCA Ventures, we’ll continue strengthening our impact in Ghana, expanding access to fair, transparent, and digitally enabled financial solutions for all,” said Tarek Mouganie, Founder and Group CEO of Affinity Africa.

Since its launch, Affinity has raised a total of US$13 million in funding to bridge the financial services gap in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its branchless, low-cost model offers 24/7 banking services, including savings, payments, and loans, specifically tailored to users with varying levels of digital literacy.