Fintech

The inclusion of Fintech in the Protocol on Digital Trade and the requirement to develop the Fintech Annex represent a significant milestone for Fintech on the continent. Documents like the Fintech Annex take time to develop and are not revised as frequently as domestic frameworks. Therefore, it is crucial that stakeholders involved in negotiating the Fintech Annex strive to produce a document that will stand the test of time and facilitate measurable results. This piece has attempted to highlight some key considerations for developing the Fintech Annex. However, what has been covered is merely the tip of the iceberg. There are many other issues to consider. Experts and scholars in the field of Fintech are encouraged to urgently publish on this topic to support the efforts of the actual negotiators of the Fintech Annex.

The News and Events category publishes the latest News and Events relating to International Economic Law relating to Africa and the Global South. Every week, Afronomicslaw.org receive the News and Events in their e-mail accounts. The News and Events published every week include conferences, major developments in the field of International Economic Law in Africa at the national, sub-regional and regional levels as well as relevant case law. News and Events with a Global South focus are also often included.

This article briefly comments on few recent court interventions in fintech disputes in Africa. It highlights the important role African courts must play in the protection of the continent's budding E-commerce environment.

The limit of cross border flow of personal data is broadly referred to as data localisation and is often justified based on five main concerns. These include the protection of personal data, access to data by local law enforcement, ensuring national security, advancing local economic competitiveness and levelling the regulatory playing field. However, a closer look at these justifications reveal the impact of data localisation on free trade, increase in transaction costs and the efficiency of corporations, stifling of innovation, and hampering of economic growth. With global data flows raising global GDP, it is necessary to ask, what policy trade-offs are necessary to balance the legitimate concerns of countries against the unintended consequences that the impact of data localisation causes? There are four issues relating to the economic impacts of data localisation that emerging regulation in Africa needs to address. These are data ownership and its value, competition, trade, and foreign direct investment.

The News and Events published every week include conferences, major developments in the field of International Economic Law in Africa at the national, sub-regional and regional levels as well as relevant case law.

While investment is not per se a current focus of our TVI, this present article discusses vulnerability concerns in an investment context utilising Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States as the point of departure. It concludes by discussing the ways these countries have sought and could seek to build resilience.

The interconnectedness of commercial and other mundane human transactions has never been more reified than it is since the advent of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). However, it bears observing that ICTs have helped in harnessing virtually every human and non-human endeavour into their commercial ramifications

The smooth and effective running of the AfCFTA and proper negotiation in the second phase of negotiations could help in the attainment of the continent’s most daring and ambitious goal yet. This is the creation of a single African market characterized by digital, financial and social inclusion; with our very own cities (Lagos, Nairobi, and Cape Town) competing to be the Fintech hub of the continent and the globe!