When the first wave of fintech companies offering traditional banking services through software applications entered the financial services sector in Africa a few years ago, many banks were understandably alarmed.
While banks were preoccupied with what they thought customers should have, fintech companies were thinking more about what customers needed and how to deliver it to them. “This approach, which is transparent as it informs, engages, and anticipates, has been the strength of fintech companies,” asserts Emmanuel Onyeje, the Nigeria regional manager of Backbase.
Backbase is a privately funded fintech company with its global headquarters in Amsterdam and regional offices throughout the world, “from New York to Singapore and everywhere in between”.
It started in 2003 when founder, Jouk Pleiter and a partner had a shared vision to “make the internet more beautiful”. Nineteen years later and the company can proudly claim to be “the backbone of hundreds of banks around the world and part of the day-to-day banking experience of…