Panelists that graced the 8th Financial Technology Service Providers Association (FITSPA) Annual FinTech Conference 2026 pose for a photoBy Prisca WanyenyaGovernment has urged FinTechs to uphold consumer protection if their products are to be embraced by the public, at a time when telecoms and financial institutions are grappling with increased cybercrime and fraud.The call was made by Rachel Vanessa Muhwezi, Assistant Commissioner for Micro-Finance Regulation at the Ministry of Finance, during the 8th Financial Technology Service Providers Association (FITSPA) Annual FinTech Conference 2026 held on October 6 at Sheraton Kampala Hotel.The conference was held under the theme: “Scaling Fintech Innovation for Inclusive Growth and a Resilient Digital Economy.”“We are asking them to uphold consumer protection. As they build solutions, the solutions should be trusted and we should have financial services that have integrity,” Muhwezi said.“As government we support them (FinTechs) because they are bringing solutions to the private sector. They are solving a problem for those individuals that were unable to access credit from the commercial banks.”She warned against predatory practices driven by Artificial Intelligence.“What we call upon them is to afford consumer protection, to protect their consumers, to avoid any predatory practices that can be done using AI. What we hold in financial services is trust. If trust is broken, then we cannot serve those individuals that we are preparing solutions for,” she said.MTN Mobile Money Uganda Chief Technology and Information Officer Albert Gitta echoed the same concerns, citing the Bank of Uganda Annual Report for June 2025 which shows active internet banking users decreased by 6.6 percent from 0.96 million in June 2024 to 0.9 million in June 2025.“Technology enables digital finance, but trust makes people use it. A customer gives us far more than a transaction, they trust us with their money, their information, and increasingly an important part of their economic life,” Gitta said.“Trust can take years to build and only moments to damage.”He said the drop in users should worry the sector.“The Bank of Uganda report 2025 showed active internet banking users falling by 6.6%. They should grow, but they fell from 960,000 to 900,000. Nobody forces customers to leave, they simply go quietly because they are no longer sure. Our challenge is to convert innovation into trusted scale,” Gitta said.“I get people calling me, I am the CTIO of MTN MoMo, they tell me, I am going to switch off your mobile money. And I have told them, okay, let us see who switches off the other first. For me, trust must remain our first product.”MTN Uganda also called for partnerships to grow Uganda’s FinTech sector, arguing that no single institution can build the digital economy alone.“Not one fintech, not one bank, not one telecom operator, not government alone. Each of us brings experience to this ecosystem. It is almost like a puzzle. If we fit that together, we work together. A scammer caught on one network should be blocked on every network,” Gitta said.FITSPA Chairperson Vincent Tumwijukye called for improvement of the ICT curriculum in education institutions and increased investment in the FinTech sector. He cited the NSSF Act which provides for up to 15% of its funds to be invested in private equity and venture capital available for FinTechs, but less than 1% is actually invested.“We have collaboration with universities reviewing curriculums to see that they speak to the needs of the industry. One pillar is availability of talent,” Tumwijukye said.“We invite every institution to review and assess the relevance of their programmes to make sure there is constant supply of talent able to drive innovation and sustainability.”He said lack of funding affects resilience and security.“If you do not have resources, you cannot have resilient infrastructure to be able to address security but also compound growth. When we talk about innovation, we are not talking about developing another feature, we are talking about changing business models and how people interact with one another,” he said.Airtel Mobile Commerce Uganda Managing Director Japhet Aritho asked government to consider waiving taxes on smartphones to improve access and innovation.“We are partnering with device companies that give a device to the customer and we collect money either per day or per week, per month in small instalments so that everybody can access,” Aritho said.“We are still talking to government to see whether they can waive some taxes for entry devices. There are things you can do with a feature phone, there are things you cannot do with a feature phone.”Denis Musinguzi, Chief Executive Officer of Furaha Uganda, a FinTech providing school fees loans to over 100,000 learners, welcomed the conference saying it provides stakeholders an opportunity to share information, showcase innovations and identify gaps for future investment.The post Govt Tells FinTechs: Build Trust First, Innovation Alone Won’t Win Customers appeared first on Business Focus.