{"id":16368,"date":"2026-11-12T20:45:51","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T20:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/12\/cross-border-logistics-must-match-financial-integration-says-fmdq-chief-businessday-ng\/"},"modified":"2026-11-12T20:45:51","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T20:45:51","slug":"cross-border-logistics-must-match-financial-integration-says-fmdq-chief-businessday-ng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/12\/cross-border-logistics-must-match-financial-integration-says-fmdq-chief-businessday-ng\/","title":{"rendered":"Cross-border logistics must match financial integration, says FMDQ chief – Businessday NG"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa\u2019s efforts to strengthen cross-border payment infrastructure must be accompanied by improvements in the movement of goods and services to unlock the full potential of regional economic integration, according to Zeal Akaraiwe, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of FMDQ Group.\n<\/p>\n

Speaking at the S&P Global Africa Summit 2026 in Lagos on Tuesday, Akaraiwe, who became FMDQ\u2019s chief executive in June, said advances in financial infrastructure must keep pace with the practical requirements of trade across African markets.\n<\/p>\n

\u200b\u201dMuch more important than the flow of capital is the actual flow of goods and services,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is no point in having a very sophisticated payment infrastructure cross-border when the actual goods cannot cross the border,\u201d he added. His remarks come as African economies pursue closer economic integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), supported by initiatives to improve cross-border payments, trade facilitation and regional market access.<\/p>\n

\u200bFinancing challenges and regulatory evolution<\/h3>\n

\u200bEarlier in the day, Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Taiwo Oyedele highlighted the financing challenges facing African economies, noting the mismatch between long-term development needs and the availability of affordable capital. \u201cDevelopment needs require financing over many years, while most of our available funding is short-term, expensive, and exposes us in many cases to currency risks,\u201d he said in his opening remarks.\n<\/p>\n

\u200bAkaraiwe also addressed the evolving regulatory environment for virtual assets, noting that their growing presence in financial markets requires frameworks that can accommodate innovation alongside established financial mechanisms.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is accepted that the virtual asset world is here to stay,\u201d he said, adding that the central question for regulators was how to integrate virtual assets more deeply into existing financial systems.\n<\/p>\n

Read also:\u00a0N10tn poured into power sector as Nigeria races toward 2030 economic goals<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

On exchange controls, Akaraiwe acknowledged their importance in protecting domestic economies from potential abuses while also recognising opportunities for regulatory adjustments that could support greater capital mobility.\n<\/p>\n

\u200bBoosting value through regional processing<\/h3>\n

\u200bThe potential benefits, he suggested, would be particularly significant if accompanied by stronger domestic processing capacity for Africa\u2019s raw materials, allowing countries to capture more value from regional production and trade. \u201cIf those things are combined with the building of processing capacity for raw materials in Africa, that\u2019s going to be a massive game changer,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

Read also:\u00a0\u00a0Nigeria\u2019s industrial goods firms income tax payments surge 98.9% as profits rise 43.1%<\/a><\/p>\n

\u200bAkaraiwe was speaking during a panel titled Beyond Banking: Fintech, Digital Assets and the Future of Capital Flows in Africa, moderated by Luigi Motti, Head of Financial Institutions Ratings for EMEA at S&P Global Ratings. The discussion formed part of the two-day summit, which brought together financial sector leaders, policymakers and investors to examine opportunities for strengthening African capital markets and supporting long-term economic growth.\n<\/p>\n

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Businessday NG<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa\u2019s efforts to strengthen cross-border payment infrastructure must be accompanied by improvements in the movement of goods and services to unlock the full potential of regional economic integration, according to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16369,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}