The Africa Financial Summit – AFIS, the leading platform for African finance, announces that its annual summit will be held on November 3 and 4, 2026, in Luanda, Angola. For the first time, the summit will take place in Southern Africa, confirming its pan-African reach and its ambition to connect all of the continent’s financial ecosystems. Created in 2021 by Jeune Afrique Media Group and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), AFIS has quickly established itself as one of the main platforms for dialogue between leaders of Africa’s financial industry, regulators, and public decision-makers.
The summit brings together more than 1,250 participants each year and combines high-level strategic sessions, technical workshops, bilateral meetings, and networking spaces designed to foster the conclusion of partnerships and transactions. It is supported by strategic governance provided by a Supervisory Council made up of around thirty major figures from Africa’s financial sector, including Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Chairman of Access Holdings and Coronation Group; Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, Governor of the BCEAO; Aliou Maiga, IFC Regional Director for Financial Institutions in Africa; Solomon Quaynor, Vice-President of the African Development Bank; Thierry Hebraud, CEO of Mauritius Commercial Bank; and Charles Russon, Group Executive, Africa Regions, at Absa.
Luanda, a new hub for African finance
After Lomé in West Africa and Casablanca in North Africa, the choice of Luanda marks a new stage in AFIS’s continental anchoring. Angola has embarked on a profound transformation of its economy and financial system. With GDP estimated at $115 billion, the country ranks among the continent’s top 10 economies and is pursuing a reform agenda aimed at modernizing its banking sector, strengthening financial regulation, accelerating the digitalization of services, and supporting economic diversification.
Investments in infrastructure, the gradual structuring of capital markets driven by the growing role of the Angolan Stock Exchange (BODIVA) greater openness to international investors, and Angola’s membership in the SADC free trade area are helping to make the country one of the continent’s most attractive emerging financial hubs.
Against a chaotic global backdrop marked by a scarcity of financing, and in the context of the implementation of the New African Financial Architecture, AFIS 2026 will focus on improving the financing of economies through several priorities: mobilizing local resources, advancing continental financial integration, driving digital transformation, and strengthening the continent’s financial champions.
Manuel Antonio Tiago Dias, Governor of the National Bank of Angola, said:
“AFIS is today a leading forum for finance in Africa. Few events offer such an opportunity to bring together the entire ecosystem and work collectively. It is both a key and strategic forum, a unique space for collaboration, a place for constructive discussions on the continent’s major challenges, and an event marked by well-organized and impactful moments.”
A strategic platform to build Africa’s financial future
AFIS has now become a genuine platform for dialogue and action, capable of bringing together banks, insurers, fintechs, capital markets, development institutions, regulators, and public authorities around concrete solutions to strengthen African financial sovereignty. The 2026 edition in Luanda will therefore offer a privileged framework for sharing lessons learned, structuring coalitions of stakeholders, and fostering joint initiatives in support of deeper financial integration across the continent.
Amir Ben Yahmed, CEO of Jeune Afrique Media Group and founder of AFIS, said:
“The Africa Financial Summit is much more than an event. It has become a leading platform where regulators and financial players jointly build the future of African finance. This first edition in Southern Africa shines a spotlight on Angola, a market undergoing liberalization with considerable potential. It offers participants the opportunity to forge decisive alliances for the regional economy.”
Ethiopis Tafara, IFC Vice-President for Africa, added:
“At AFIS, we bring together African financial leaders to turn ambition into action, by mobilizing private capital to create jobs, strengthen resilience, and support the continent’s growth.”
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