433369666-The-Case-for-Investing-in-South-Africa

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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING: OPPORTUNITIES RELATED
TO FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY
• Financial technology (fintech) innovation in South
Africa’s financial services industry is giving rise
to manufacturing growth opportunities in mobile
financial applications.
• South Africa’s advanced ICT infrastructure, wide
mobile network coverage and internet bandwidth
are key enablers for the proliferation of advanced
financial technologies, even if relatively high mobile
services and data costs are a growth constraint. The
country’s sizeable banked population, sophisticated
financial infrastructure and regulatory system are
also important contributing factors.
• Robotics, artificial intelligence applications such
as robo-advisors in the financial and investment
management industry, and the development of
algorithmic trading hardware and software, for
use by both retail and institutional investors, are
increasing in popularity in South Africa. This is
consistent with global trends.
• The emergence of digital banks, which seek to
conduct bank transactions solely on digital and
mobile channels at far reduced cost levels, has
disrupted traditional banking services, generating
potential growth opportunities for advanced mobile
application developers.
SELECT OPPORTUNITIES IN
FINTECH-RELATED ADVANCED
MANUFACTURING:
• Manufacturing of contactless, near-field
communication technology applications for
processing payments
• Advanced cybersecurity systems and applications
development
• Opportunities for big data analytics and neural
network technology manufacturers in South
Africa’s financial services industry