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Frontier Finance AI is practitioner analysis of AI in finance across Africa and Asia's emerging markets. Most commentary on AI in finance is written from New York, London or Singapore, and treats markets like Nairobi, Lagos or Dhaka as an afterthought. This publication starts from the opposite assumption: the frontier is where the hard problems are, and where the most useful lessons get learned.

I write as someone building in this space, not watching it. My day job is building AI tools for SME capital raising in Kenya, so the questions here are ones I run into at work: what the rules allow, what the data supports, and what actually works when the textbook assumptions break.

What you'll find here

Every piece falls into one of three sections:

• Regulation: how regulators across Africa and Asia are writing the rules for AI in finance, and what those rules mean for fintechs, SMEs and the capital behind them.
• AI Indices: close readings of the global AI benchmarks (IMF, GIRAI and others), covering what the numbers say about emerging markets and what they miss.
• Field Notes: lessons from building AI for finance in markets where data is thin and the rules are still being written.

If you only read three pieces

1. The Frontier Is the Lab: the argument behind this whole publication, and why the people building here are solving the real problem rather than a lesser version of it.
2. South Africa Has Africa's Best AI Rulebook. Its SMEs Still Can't Follow It.: why good law, on its own, governs nothing.
3. Africa on the IMF's AI Preparedness Index: Africa sits at the bottom of the IMF's AI readiness scores. Is the test measuring the right things?

How often

One sharp piece a week, free, straight to your inbox. No noise. Subscribe below, and reply to any email: I read every response.