The sixth edition of the Africa Financial Summit (AFIS) opens today in Luanda, Angola, under the theme “Making Capital Count: Unlocking Growth Through African Finance.” Organized by Jeune Afrique Media Group in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, the summit brings together more than 1,500 financial leaders, investors, regulators and policymakers from across Africa and around the world for two days of discussions.
Africa’s financial sector enters this new phase on increasingly solid foundations, following years of sustained growth and improved profitability. Banking revenues have risen from approximately USD 83 billion in 2020 to over USD 100 billion in 2025, while return on equity has reached 19%, nearly twice the global average. Yet loans still account for only around 30% of African banking assets. This gap exposes the continuing difficulty of directing financial resources towards businesses, agriculture, housing and infrastructure.
The challenge is therefore not simply to mobilize more capital, but to deploy it more effectively. This means channeling pension and insurance savings into long-term investment, sharing risks across public and private stakeholders, and developing financing products for businesses that remain outside traditional lending models.
Institutional scale matters too. Africa’s 30 largest banks hold approximately USD 1.2 trillion in assets, less than one-third of the combined balance sheets of their Latin American counterparts. But consolidation will only deliver results if it helps finance larger projects, builds sector expertise and connects still-fragmented markets.
The summit brings together leaders from banking, capital markets, insurance and development finance, including Makhtar Diop (IFC), Sidi Ould Tah (AfDB), Serge Ekué (BOAD), George Elombi (Afreximbank),Jeremy Awori (Ecobank), Luis Lélis (BAI), Edoh Kossi Amenounvé (BRVM), Samaila Zubairu (AFC), and Armando Manuel (FSDEA). Angola’s Minister of Finance, Vera Daves de Sousa, and the Governor of the National Bank of Angola (BNA), Manuel António Tiago Dias, are also taking part. Hosting AFIS in Southern Africa and a Portuguese-speaking country for the first time broadens dialogue among the continent’s financial centres.
Makhtar Diop, Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), said; “Africa has capital. It has entrepreneurs. It has extraordinary talent. Our task is to connect these strengths through financial systems that can deliver on the continent’s ambitions. The conversations we have, the partnerships we forge, and the commitments we make over the next two days at AFIS will help determine whether African savings become the capital that builds African businesses, African infrastructure, and African jobs.”
Amir Ben Yahmed, CEO of Jeune Afrique Media Group and founder of the Africa Financial Summit, said: “Over the past two decades, Africa’s financial sector has grown considerably stronger. But the challenge is no longer simply to build stronger financial institutions. It is to ensure they play a greater role in driving the continent’s growth. The future of African finance will be measured not only by the strength of its balance sheets, but also by its ability to finance large-scale projects, harness the opportunities of innovation and make a tangible contribution to the transformation of our economies.”
In his morning keynote, African Development Bank Group President Sidi Ould Tah will call for closer coordination among national, regional and continental institutions under the New African Financial Architecture for Development. The aim is to help bridge Africa’s annual development financing gap, estimated at USD 400 billion. Guarantees, risk-sharing instruments and local
currency financing are among the tools intended to make more projects bankable and mobilize private investment
The first findings of the sixth Deloitte-AFIS African Financial Industry Barometer will also be presented during the opening morning. Overall confidence among surveyed institutions remains at 8/10, but regional integration is struggling to deliver tangible progress: 69% of respondents say implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is moving too slowly, while only 11% report already being connected to the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS). The findings underscore the gap between financial institutions’ strength and their ability to operate across the continent. The full report is due in January.
On Wednesday, November 4, a panel of central bank governors will take the discussion forward, focusing on monetary conditions, regulatory frameworks and payment systems needed to facilitate capital flows and support the real economy. The aim is to turn ambitions for integration into practical decisions that financial institutions and businesses can act on.
