Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, the architect behind Kenya's mobile money revolution, is now running a century-old bank—and he's determined to reach the hundreds of millions of Africans still locked out of formal finance.
Lopokoiyit joined Absa in April as CEO of personal and private banking, bringing 19 years of experience disrupting traditional banking through technology. His mandate is stark: of Africa's 900-million adults, only about 30% have a bank account. That leaves roughly 630 million people—the continent's poorest and most vulnerable—entirely outside the formal financial system.
"There's this whole other sector of the population that's missing," Lopokoiyit said in recent remarks. He isn't exaggerating. While Absa serves about 12-million customers predominantly in South Africa, the bank operates across 10 countries. Yet vast swaths of township and rural economies remain unbanked, even in South Africa itself, which Lopokoiyit describes as "highly banked in some sectors"—a polite way of saying financial access depends on where you live and how much money you have.
The Unbanked Opportunity
Lopokoiyit's track record suggests he knows how to close this gap. At M-Pesa, he helped drive financial inclusion in Kenya from 23% to more than 80%, primarily by making banking accessible through mobile phones rather than physical branches. Fintech companies and mobile network operators capitalized on these "white spaces," reaching people whom traditional banks had written off as unprofitable.
Now he's pushing Absa to think differently about how it serves customers. The shift is fundamental: moving from a "product-driven organisation to a customer-driven organisation." That means rethinking everything from how customers sign up for accounts to where the bank physically locates itself. "The ease with which customers can use our services is number one," he said.
Absa is already seeing results. In the six months to end-June, the bank's active digital customer base grew 14% year on year to 5.4-million users. In South Africa, digital users grew 10%. Elsewhere across Africa, they jumped 21%—driven by improved onboarding processes, better app features, targeted campaigns, and partnerships with other service providers.
Competition From Unexpected Quarters
The competitive landscape has shifted dramatically. Supermarkets now offer banking services. PayInc's PayShap platform, used by more than 6-million South Africans, demonstrates how non-traditional players are capturing customers that banks once assumed were theirs. Lopokoiyit praised PayShap as an example of "how banks can create value in the current environment," suggesting Absa may need to collaborate with—or learn from—these new entrants rather than compete head-to-head.
The bank is investing heavily to stay relevant. Overall IT-related costs rose 7% in the recent period to R8.779bn. Absa has signed deals with Ripple to provide digital asset custody services in South Africa and with Salesforce to expand its customer-service capabilities. These aren't cosmetic upgrades; they're structural investments in becoming a different kind of institution.
Lopokoiyit's vision also reflects a broader shift in how Africans relate to money itself. "The fundamental use of money is changing, with African nations leading globally in the adoption of digital assets and cryptocurrencies," he said. That's not mere speculation—it's an observation about where financial innovation is actually happening on the continent, often ahead of Europe and North America.
Execution Will Tell
Still, ambition means nothing without follow-through. Lopokoiyit is clear-eyed about what comes next: "At the end of it all is execution, execution, execution. We need to be simpler, faster and more consistent in how our customers view their experience with us."
Absa's plan includes rethinking its physical footprint. Instead of maintaining large, expensive branches in every neighborhood, the bank is moving toward "differentiated points of presence suited to an increasingly digital customer base." That's code for closing unprofitable locations—a decision that will affect workers and customers in communities where the bank is the only financial institution for miles.
The stakes are real. Financial inclusion isn't just about convenience; it's about access to credit, savings protection, and economic participation. When 70% of Africa's adults lack bank accounts, they're also locked out of loans for small businesses, protection against emergencies, and the ability to build wealth. They're forced to rely on informal lending, cash savings hidden at home, or remittances sent through expensive money-transfer services.
Absa's pivot toward digital banking and underserved markets could genuinely expand opportunity. But it could also deepen inequality if the bank prioritizes profitable urban customers over genuinely poor rural ones, or if digital-first banking leaves behind those without smartphones or reliable internet.
Why This Matters:
Financial exclusion is a structural barrier to economic mobility across Africa. When a bank serving 12-million customers operates in a continent where 630 million adults have no formal financial account, the gap reveals both a massive market opportunity and a massive human cost. Lopokoiyit's appointment signals that Absa recognizes this—and that technology-driven inclusion, done right, could genuinely expand access to credit, savings, and economic participation for people currently shut out of the formal system. But execution matters. Whether Absa's digital strategy reaches the poorest and most remote communities, or merely captures profitable urban customers that competitors haven't yet reached, will determine whether this represents genuine financial democratization or just another round of market consolidation.