By Ayomide Otitoju
In an article titled “Are We Entering a Fully Digital Financial Economy?”, Oke said every major financial innovation, from paper currency to online banking and blockchain technology, has been designed to solve the challenge of enabling trust between people who have never met.
According to him, the current financial revolution is not simply about replacing cash with digital payments but about making trust programmable through technology.
He explained that while traditional finance relied on banks, governments, payment networks and other intermediaries to establish confidence, emerging technologies are embedding trust directly into digital infrastructure.
Oke noted that digital identity verification, real-time payments, smart contracts and artificial intelligence are increasingly enabling financial transactions to be completed securely and efficiently without extensive human intervention.
He identified three phases in the evolution of financial trust: Physical Trust, which relied on tangible assets such as cash and handwritten signatures; Institutional Trust, driven by banks and financial institutions; and Programmable Trust, where technology automatically verifies identities, authenticates transactions and executes agreements.
According to Oke, many organisations mistakenly equate digital transformation with moving services online, arguing that true transformation requires redesigning how trust operates across the financial ecosystem.
He said economies seeking to deepen financial inclusion must prioritise interoperable infrastructure, trusted digital identities, effective regulation and integrated financial systems rather than focusing solely on increasing digital payment volumes.
Oke said Africa has made significant progress in digital financial adoption but must now focus on building connected financial infrastructure that integrates payments, identity, compliance, data and commerce.
He added that the future of finance will be defined not by the fastest digital applications but by the ability to build trusted ecosystems capable of supporting seamless financial interactions.
According to him, financial technology will become increasingly invisible as digital systems mature, with secure and instant financial services becoming embedded in everyday life.
Oke concluded that the key question is no longer whether the world is moving towards a fully digital financial economy, but whether trust itself is becoming digital infrastructure, a shift he described as the next major innovation shaping global finance.
