Hi, everybody and I am Satan, the country director and head of sales based in London, United Kingdom for as a finance today, I'm delighted to speak about crypto and innovative fintech solutions for business growth. I'm going to walk through our agenda.I'd first like to start off by discussing the challenges with cross-border payments when it comes to frontier markets. So what are all the different challenges and pain points faced in frontier markets for businesses when it comes to cross-border payments? Then I'd like to dive into how as a finance solves for that pain point. So what's our approach and then discuss a little bit about our services? So how do we help solve for these pain points? And then conclude with, can crypto be an enabler? Can crypto enable business growth in frontier markets? Is that even a possibility? And this is where we're going to um stretch a little bit of the imagination and be innovative in the solutions that we discuss and finally talk about a specific use case which is FTX Partnering with as a finance, which was announced in March 2022. So to give you um a real life use case, an example of how crypto is enabling um payments in frontier markets and particularly on the African continent. So let's dive right into it.

So the frontier markets, payment landscape and this um can apply to a lot of the frontier markets. But specifically, these are some of the challenges we've seen in the African continent. So there's a lack of financial infrastructure and a lack of in interoperability between markets within the African continent. So what generally happens is there's an excessive use of us dollars when making cross border payments. So let's say a business or an individual wants to make a payment from Ghana to Nigeria that generally involves um the swift system, the US dollar system where Ghanaian CD has to be converted to us dollar and then US dollar has to be reconverted into Nigeria and Naira, which can cause a lot of delays.

It can also cause um high costs. So people end up paying a lot more money to send a payment to the next door neighbor. So excessive use of US D and the lack of financial infrastructure and interoperability between markets and within markets can make it really difficult and expensive for enterprises and users who need to make payments. There are few banks with a correspondence status. So correspondent banks don't tend to really work in a lot of these frontier markets. So often what happens is it needs multiple intermediary banks involved or multiple middlemen involved who end up either taking a fee or handling the payment. And this can again cause delays or the beneficiary can end up with less money. On the other end, it also limits transparency. So it's really, really challenging to know exactly where your payment is and exactly what the status is. And then you end up calling a bank who has to call another bank, who has to call the other partner who has to call the other provider. So it's really, really challenging to actually get a hold of where your payment is. And finally, the third biggest challenge that we've seen in frontier markets is the local systems have last mile restraints.

So this is where connectivity between banks or connectivity between, let's say bank and a mobile wallet provider or um a cash payout provider can be very, very weak in some of these markets. So how do you kind of pull all that together and offer a solution to an enterprise keeping in mind, cost keeping in mind, settlement time because payments let's face it have to be instant. And then finally keeping in mind the fact that we need to have visibility on where the payment is if the payment is lost or delayed. So these are some of the challenges we've seen in frontier markets and especially on the African continent, um which is a problem and a challenge that as a finance has spent um the last eight years um solving for a lot of our esteemed clients. So how does as a finance do that? Our approach is to run and always on global back office. And so we provide payments, FX and treasury for our enterprise clients. Now, these enterprise clients could have individual clients of their own. So it could be A B to B model or A B to B to C model. So essentially what we provide for our clients is reach, we provide them the infrastructure which includes the interoperability and we provide the expertise.

It's really important in each market on the African continent to have local compliance, local legal teams and knowledge of the regulatory landscape, which is really important and does differ from market to market within the African continent as well as a treasury team that can run a always on treasury back office and provide liquidity and instant payments where it's needed.

So our API technology um can deliver payments instantly, but we still need that liquidity. So how is that liquidity delivered? So our trading desk manages all our exposures and manages all the different currencies within our risk limit and ensures that liquidity is delivered at the right time at the right place. And our API technology finally brings it into the last mile, whether it's a mobile wallet, a cash pickup or a bank account. So this is how A A does it, we have offices in over seven markets and we have local compliance teams that um will help with the regulatory aspect. We have local treasury teams and we have local client facing teams who help with dedicated services for all these business clientele. So these are the services that we provide as a finance, provides it through our API and our web product platforms. So our API requires an integration which is basically technology integration that helps uh get the payment into the last mile wallet. And then our web platform is more of a bulk trading platform. So through these two products, we're able to deliver payments, FX and Treasury.

What does that really mean? So payments is cross-border B to B payments where we can provide instant mass payout. And last Mile remittances. FX is our capability as a market maker. So we can make a price for any of our customers in the currency that they'd like to buy and sell. And then finally, Treasury is our capability to manage um large amounts of treasury and exposure that our clients may have and a and their need to access global liquidity on a 24 hour basis, seven days a week. So all of this takes a lot of co ordination, but it also takes some very high end technology to be able to deliver the best in class solution for all our customers. Now, where does crypto fit into all this crypto for us is another currency that we would be able to offer to our customers. So whether it's Bitcoin, whether it's stablecoin. For us, we are able to make a market between cryptocurrencies and local African currencies or cryptocurrencies and other currency pairs. So can crypto really enable business growth? Is this a far fetched dream or is it something that can really help with cross border payments?

Well, let's have a look if it's really happening and let's have a look to see kind of what the realistic horizon looks like. So crypto enabling business growth um since we've been in the market um in, in African um in the African continent for a number of years. What we've seen is the adoption of cryptocurrencies in many of these African markets. So we know that there is a scope, we know that there is a demand and we know that there there are customers and users who really want to participate in this Cryptocurrency, global digital currency exchange world. So how can that help solve some of the challenges and how can it be like a real life use case? Um The thing that's very special about the African continent is the concept of leapfrogging. So what we've seen in the past is um markets where there there is a banked population um has gone from banked population to the adoption of mobile wallets um in a very, very short span of time. So if we take Kenya, for example, the adoption of MP A which is the mobile wallet um driven by Safari, the Telco, the adoption of MP ESA has been really quick and it's been very prevalent.

And if you go to Kenya today, that's how you pay for your things is you pay through M pe A. And so you see that concept of leapfrogging where they go from, you know, maybe holding a bank account, skipping credit and debit cards usage and then moving straight to something like mobile wallets. So this is what's really special is the fact that there are decentralized systems, fragmented systems.

And what that really presents is an opportunity. It can be a challenge, but it also presents an opportunity for um fintech adoption and a lot of the cross border payment disruption. So in this case, it could be um something like going from bank to going to mobile wallets. So if you look at like the next horizon, could that be crypto? Um Absolutely, I think that is something that is a possi possibility. And even today, some of our customers will come and ask us if we are able to take liquidity in Cryptocurrency or not. And that is something that we have always been open to, to doing. Um So let's talk about a real life use case um because you know, things are are much better understood and much better tested when it's actually happening in reality. So in March 2022 FTX a global digital currency exchange valued at 32 billion um announced a partnership with as a finance to expand um the adoption of web three and digital currencies throughout Africa. So this has been a really exciting announcement and it's been months of hard work to implement. Um And, and why, why was this partnership something that FTX wanted to explore? Well as a finance launched the African continent's first digital currency exchange known as BIT PSA back in the day, as well as it is the first digital currency exchange worldwide run by a woman, Elizabeth Vercillo, our CEO and founder.

So these are two exciting pivotal um moments that happened in the last few years. So we are the largest non-bank provider of digital currency exchange in um in Africa, sorry, of currency exchange in Africa. Um We acquired exchange for free about a year and a half ago and this made us the largest non-bank provider of currency exchange in Africa. Um And as I mentioned earlier, um being home to uh markets which are digital native. So um a lot of the African markets have adoption of mobile wallets, Kenya Ghana, Senegal, where we've seen the adoption of web wallets. So Africa is really is in a really, really prime position for the expansion of web three and metaverse economies. The other interesting fact is 40% of Africa's population is un banked. So uh sorry is is banked. So the rest 60% is actually un banked. So there's a large opportunity here for a lot of them to want to adopt Cryptocurrency and adopt digital currencies in their everyday use cases. So, you know, can I go buy a coffee with, um, my Cryptocurrency that's on my wallet? Um, can I go and buy a scarf? Can I go and pay my bills in cryptocurrencies? These are all, um, great use cases and can actually be a reality in, um, a number of years if not sooner. Um, Africa's population is projected to double, um, which also means the working population is going to significantly grow.

And if the working population significantly grows, we're looking at a younger population who's ready and more open to adoption. And also, uh there is a large number of mobile money accounts that really can help drive the adoption of digital currencies and digital wallets. Um, the addressable market for crypto wallets just to give, um, give you an idea is in Nigeria, it's about 13 million and in Kenya, it's about 5 million and these are one of the top five markets for crypto wallets in these um uh within these African markets. So, um because there's a big opportunity here, FTX is partnering with as a finance to really drive that adoption and drive the use of cryptocurrencies. Um So FTX will leverage as a finances on and off ramps. That's just basically the collection and payout um channels available via the API to give users in the African markets, the access to digital currencies. So essentially a user can use their FTX app to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, stocks and uh whatever else is offered on that app, to be able to exchange local currency into these digital currencies or the other way around and eventually get into a place where you can pay for goods and services using your FTX wallet.

So together FTX and other finance um, are going to work to expand Web three in Africa in five key ways. We're looking to connect African countries to the web three global economy by offering our infrastructure as a leverage point. We're going to create pathways for a lot of these local African users to participate and learn about the web through economy. And then we're going to make it easier than ever to deposit and pay out in several different African currencies on FTXS apps including mobile money and bank account integrations, and then finally to launch African currency, digital currency pairs trading and then last but not least to onboard African NFTS and artists to the ftxnft marketplace.

So there's a lot of different opportunities within this partnership. Um FTX has um really been driving and leading this partnership with a, a finance because there is a strong correlation between what A Z A finance has built on the African continent so far and what FTX wants to bring to the African continent and what they've done for the rest of the world.

So this is a really exciting opportunity and real life news case of how crypto is enabling business growth and enabling individual users to be part of the web three and digital currency um world that is uh taking place globally today. So to conclude, I probably will have a couple of minutes for questions. If anybody has um any, you can pop it in the chat. Um I would uh invite you to uh ask some questions and I hope you um enjoy the presentation and learn something from it. Thank you. OK. Looks like we have a question from Benedicta to be able to share the presentation. Benedicta. Let me message you uh, privately. Um, unfortunately, it's a presentation that I, I'm not at liberty to share, but let me message you privately about it so we can discuss further if you have questions. Thank you. I think we have about a minute. So if there's any more questions, feel free to drop, drop it in the chat or feel free to DM me and I would love to speak with you about opportunities of how we can work together or um even discuss some other innovative ideas. Thank you, everybody.