Verve unites banks, fintechs, merchants to build trust in Africa’s payment systems

Verve International brought together banks, fintech companies, and merchants at its Biz Unwind 2026 event in Lagos to strengthen trust and collaboration in Africa’s rapidly growing digital payments ecosystem.

The gathering highlighted the critical role of partnerships in building secure, reliable, and efficient payment systems as mobile wallets, contactless cards, e-commerce, and embedded financial services expand across the continent.

Across Africa, the way people make payment is undergoing a profound transformation. From mobile wallets and contactless cards to e-commerce and embedded finance, digital payments are becoming central to everyday economic activity.

Digital wallets are expanding into everyday retail, subscription services and ride-hailing platforms are increasingly cashless, e-commerce marketplaces are gaining momentum across both major cities and emerging commercial hubs. However, the rapid acceleration of digital transactions has placed new demands on the infrastructure that powers them.

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This growth reflects more than just technological advancement; it signals a continent steadily building a more inclusive financial ecosystem. Yet as digital payments expand, a critical question emerges: can the infrastructure supporting these transactions keep pace with the speed of adoption?

It is this challenge and the consequent opportunity that formed the core of conversations at the Verve Biz Unwind 2026 event, hosted by Verve International, Africa’s leading domestic payment cards and tokens brand. Bringing together Banks, fintech innovators, merchants, and ecosystem partners. The event provided a platform for strategic dialogue on the next phase of Africa’s digital payments journey.

Security was a critical theme at the gathering, particularly as fraud tactics and cybersecurity threats become more sophisticated globally. Industry leaders at the event emphasized that security and reliability now play a direct role in determining this position. Consumers may not always see the infrastructure powering their payments, but they experience its outcomes immediately. A smooth transaction builds confidence, while a failed one erodes trust.

Paul Ohakim, vice president, issuing & acquiring (Africa) at Verve International, believes the industry is approaching a significant inflection point.

“Africa’s payments industry is entering a phase where digital credentials must operate securely across multiple environments, wallets, banking apps, e-commerce platforms, and physical terminals. The institutions that will lead are those that recognise that trust is embedded in infrastructure. Collaboration across issuers, fintechs, merchants, and processors is what makes that trust scalable,” he said.

Ohakim’s emphasis on collaboration reflects a structural reality within the payments’ ecosystem, stating that, “In such an interconnected environment, no single player can guarantee trust alone. Instead, trust emerges from collective alignment across institutions, ensuring that payments move securely and seamlessly between platforms, devices and financial systems. This is why industry collaboration has become essential to the next phase of Africa’s digital payments growth.

“When banks, fintechs, regulators, and payment networks work closely together, they can accelerate the rollout of innovations such as digital wallets, tokenised payments, contactless transactions and embedded financial services. These innovations ultimately benefit consumers by making payments faster, safer and more convenient.”

Verve Biz Unwind illustrates the value of these conversations. By bringing together stakeholders from across the ecosystem, they create opportunities to exchange insights, align strategies and address shared challenges, shaping the future of payments across the continent.

Among the technologies highlighted during discussions was Tokenization, increasingly recognised as a cornerstone of modern payment security. Tokenization replaces sensitive card details with unique digital tokens that are specific to a device or transaction.

Rather than transmitting a card’s primary account number across networks, the system generates a token and a one-time cryptographic code that authorises the payment. The result is a significantly more secure transaction environment.
Even if the token is intercepted, it cannot be reused or converted back into the original card credentials, making the data effectively useless to fraudsters.

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Tokenization also improves the efficiency of digital payments. Payment networks and issuers often report higher transaction approval rates, reduced fraud exposure, fewer disputes, and improved customer lifetime value when tokenised systems are implemented effectively.

As the conversations at Verve Biz Unwind 2026 demonstrated, the future of payments in Africa will not be defined by any single institution or innovation. Instead, it will be shaped by collective efforts across banks, fintech companies, merchants and payment networks working together to strengthen trust across the financial ecosystem.