Integrated East African Financial System: Is it Feasible?

As the EAC regional bloc is soon celebrating 20 years since its inception, is it any closer to being fully integrated? Is the regional financial integration still feasible? How can it work for every member State and every East African? How can other RECs learn from the EAC experience? What should be further considered to optimise the business sense in the entire financial integration drive? In an analysis of more than 70 financial and other institutions the author addresses the levels of financial inclusion, financial system development, and regional integration to assess the feasibility of a financially integrated EAC and provides benchmarks which inform policy. The author explores not only conventional finance and banking but also introduces one area that is usually not captured in most writings and books in this areas i.e. Islamic Finance. While Islamic Finance is slowly becoming a mainstream area of finance, there has been limited research, works and writing in the area.