LLMs: Top 20 Banks, Insurance in Artificial Intelligence in West Africa, 2026

[VCCL Africa] How are banks and insurance companies in West Africa preparing for 2026, in artificial intelligence?

What does it mean to a bank or an insurance company in West Africa that AI is the biggest technology in the world and that immense value can be driven by innovating in AI?

How does Africa use the opportunity of artificial intelligence to reach new development metrics, as well as to be at the frontier of innovation, championed by the private sector?

Currently, there is no bank or insurance company anywhere in West Africa that has an AI Research Lab or an AI Research Center. This lab does not have to be capital intensive but can work on solutions that can be the first in the world in some segments of AI.

There is no regulation that says an insurance company or a bank in West Africa cannot have an internal AI research lab or an AI research center.

Nothing stops them from publishing papers or developing prototypes or owning IPs that can become sources of earnings for them. The opportunity cost of ignoring AI in 2025, for many of them, meant losses in market capitalization, return on asset, brand strength, total deposit, customer expansion and much else.

What can they do about AI, starting from as soon as January 1, 2026?

Several banks and insurance companies are doing fine given their balance sheets for fiscal year 2025. So, AI may seem like what they can do without.

Some, however, who understand what it means, by losing out on what is ahead, may see AI beyond what to ignore or to adapt at the periphery to become what to innovate in, to lead the future becoming globally competitive and putting their names on significant maps.

There are a few major opportunity areas for banks and insurance companies, aside from having their own assistant AI model. There is AI labor economics, to develop models for what people would do, if AI replaced tasks or jobs. These models would explore pathways to the future of work within an emerging economy, especially where there is no welfare and then in industrialized nations.

If the models are robust enough, they would make the news with partnership opportunities for pilot cases as well as the chance to have proprietary tech for some of the solutions.

There are opportunities in AI ethics as a service as a service, mass orientation or introduction to AI for students and professionals - using bulk SMS and email newsletters, as well as math theorems for new architectures for AI, and AI for SMEs business strategy training.

These and more are paths for 2026, for banks and insurance companies in West Africa with intensity of focus on innovation and possibility.

We hereby present the 20 leading banks and insurance companies in West Africa, with prospects for extraordinary innovation in 2026, in artificial intelligence.

Our methodology includes recent news from them, innovative efforts, leadership, recognition, digital footprint and the chances that AI can be transformative for their operational strategies.

This recognition is also to spur action, as well as to place decision making for what is to come.



Top 10 Insurance in West Africa, with prospects to innovate in artificial intelligence in 2026.

10.

AIICO Insurance Plc - Nigeria

[aiicoplc . com]

They developed ELLA, "a dedicated instant messaging service with built-in features that help customers make instant purchase or renewal of policies, claims reporting, product and service enquiries and lots more via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Telegram."

[AI prospects include AI mass training and AI for microinsurance]

9.

Heirs Insurance Group - Nigeria

[heirsinsurancegroup . com]

"Heirs Insurance Group is a digital-first insurer that uses technology to make life insurance simpler, smarter, and more rewarding."

[AI prospects include full-scale research lab and thorough AI assistant models, fine-tuned, with datasets, for different business purposes within their group.]

8.

Nsia Seguros Guiné-Bissau

[Instagram @nsiaseguros_]

A reference point for lusophone West Africa bringing advanced products and services to the Portuguese-speaking country of Guinea-Bissau, in parallel to Francophone and Anglophone West Africa. While also driving the horizon for others in the Lusophone West African bloc - Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Principe.

[AI prospects include new products and services supercharged by AI across lusophone Africa, including Mozambique and Angola. AI mathematics and AI safety are strengths they might have.]

7.

Embed Financial Group Holdings [EFGH], Ghana

[efgh . xyz]

They have a new service for "Embedded micro-insurance and protection for contractors and SMEs."

[Team from Singapore with possibility for technology transfer and knowledge management. They are already exploring public sector services and likely to find more as well as in universities.]

6.

GAB Health Insurance Company, Ghana

[ghic . com . gh]

The company recently celebrated their 5th anniversary in November, 2025.

They "seek to use technology and AI to change the frontiers of the health insurance industry."

They "use data analytics powered by AI to help clients make informed decisions."

They plan to "launch an AI-powered virtual assistant that will enable clients to receive assistance without having to call and speak to a person on the phone."

[AI prospects include digital health, segmented travel insurance and geriatric products.]

5.

Leadway Health - Nigeria

[leadwayhealth . com]

Leadway Health has product offerings include "advanced telemedicine, health enrollee app that allows authorization of care by enrollees, digital health tracking, access to financial and family counselling and geo-location capabilities."

[AI prospects include new engines across their corporate system for insurance services as well as an AI Research Center with several labs, including for AI alignment]

4.

Finafrica Assurances - Sénégal

[finafrica-assurances . sn]

Formerly Salama Assurances and renamed Finafrica Assurances Sénégal.

They "underwrite all classes of business under non-life insurance". They are an ambitious team with network teams beyond West Africa.

[AI prospects include services, for training and SMEs tailored products for Francophone Africa, including in other parts of the Sahel.]

3.

Activa International Insurance - Sierra Leone

[sierraleone . group-activa . com]

They have a Life Care Program, which they are using to take "a major step toward providing financial security and peace of mind to more people, away from low insurance penetration in Sierra Leone."

[AI prospects include possibility for innovation services in AI ethics, as well as AI as a draw for foreign direct investment into the country, by working on products for climate change adaptation.]

2.

Ace Medical Insurance, Ghana

[acemedinsurance . com]

"Ace Medical Insurance's major strengths is its network of over 900 Health Service Providers nationwide, including leading hospitals such as 37 Military, Korle Bu, Nyaho Pharmacy, and EuraCare."

[AI prospect includes AI health remote services, early epidemic monitoring and detection for Africa, AI for mental health care, and AI for psychological services for student excellence at schools.]

1.

Cornerstone Insurance - Nigeria

[cornerstone . com . ng]

They developed Cici, an AI-agent, as an "evolution from a static knowledge base to a Generative AI-powered solution reflecting their commitment to redefining customer engagement in the insurance industry."

[AI prospect includes the possibility to develop their own base model, operating what can become the open-source to build other African AI assistant model, as well as an application store for insurance services for all of Africa.]

Top 10 banks in West Africa with potential to leverage artificial intelligence for excellence in 2026.

10.

SUNU Bank - Togo

[sunubank . tg]

Togo "is where SUNU Group had their first banking venture. They recently had a new chairman introduced on November 19, 2025 in Lomé." They are also seeking to expand to Côte d'Ivoire in coming months.

[AI prospect includes AI for language translation services to expand their marketplace.]

9.

Carbon Microfinance Bank - Nigeria

[getcarbon . co]

"Carbon is a financial services provider of Instant loans, Buy Now Pay Later & Savings."

[AI prospects include becoming a full-stack AI Fintech team, with products and services that can be operated in new international branches, within direct financial services and adjacent ones.]

8.

Fidelity Bank - Ghana

[fidelitybank . com . gh]

Fidelity Bank has AI as a CEO, "a philosophy that positions AI not as a distant tool, but as a leadership companion embedded in everyday operations."

[AI prospect includes the possibility to overtake as the prominent mobile money operator in Ghana, using AI for intense marketing and product solutions for SMEs, converting them by the appeal and relevance to their revenues.]

7.

Banque Internationale pour le Commerce et l'Industrie de la Côte d'Ivoire, S.A., [BICICI]

[bicici . ci]

BICICI, which was a part of the BNP Paribas group, is now fully Ivoirien-owned. They are using the momentum to innovate and plan digital offering for the new year.

BICICI has "a reporting tool with Data Visualization solution BanksAnalytics to analyze, among other things, the profitability of their client."

[AI prospect includes partnership and collaboration with BNP Paribas, still, to tap some of the top European paradigm in AI, especially after the France Global AI summit of February 2025, to bring extra banking services that can scale to and beyond the Francophone market.]

6.

Coris Bank International, Burkina Faso

[burkina . coris . bank]

Footprint across Francophone west Africa. They are exploring new possibility in digital banking to bring more contemporary solutions to their customers across Africa.

[AI prospect includes working on cross-border solutions, to boost intra-Africa trade, even as AfCFTA might get some boost from this as well.]

5.

The Compagnie Bancaire de l'Afrique Occidentale [CBAO] Sénégal

[attijariwafabank . com]

The bank centers digital for "strategy, financial control, finance, operations, and transformation."

[AI Prospect includes the possibility to power macroeconomic transformation for the country, as they pivot away from Europe.]

4.

International Investment Bank of Cape Verde.

[iibanks . com]

"Over the past year, iib West Africa has focused on enabling trade, supporting SMEs, and expanding access to financial services across key sectors. Its tailored approach to client needs, paired with digital efficiency, has positioned the bank as a reliable partner in a rapidly evolving market."

[AI prospect includes new tourism banking products as well as services for international investments to induce clean energy farms, that may power AI data centers.]

3.

Moniepoint - Nigeria

[moniepoint . com]

Moniepoint Inc recently launched "M" they described it as "Nigeria's first artificial intelligence-powered chatbot dedicated to simplifying insights into the informal economy, to make data on small businesses and informal trade accessible, actionable, and beneficial to policymakers, researchers, journalists, and everyday entrepreneurs."

[AI prospect includes providing business expansion strategies to SMEs, as well as to define new marketplaces where sales can be made, as well as to help customers create demand. AI for cybersecurity too, against glitches in confirmation issues with sending or receiving, sometimes by point-of-sale device operators.]

2.

Fido Ghana

[gh . fido . money]

They are bringing "their innovative financial solutions, including small business loans, savings, and personalized insurance, to even more individuals and small businesses across Africa."

[AI prospects include identification of growth sectors, where enzymatic finance would spur, amid the interest of the fairly new government to create jobs, as well as areas to catch high returns.]

1.

Trust Bank - Gambia

[trustbankgambia . com]

"Listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange since 2002, Trust Bank's cross border presence reflects West Africa's integrated financial markets where institutions increasingly operate regionally rather than just within single countries. This listing provides access to Ghanaian capital markets while maintaining operational focus on The Gambian banking sector."

[AI prospect includes possibility to become an AI-bank offering digital services across Africa with a chance to fully innovate into automation to drive productivity for customers, their businesses and objectives, including to shape talent development in Africa as well, with process knowledge, broader technical and serendipitous moves to drive growth continentally for the economy.]

AI. 2026. West Africa

While this list looks at potential banks and insurance companies with promise to go all in on AI, possibilities abound for several others, including with more mature and sophisticated approaches to make a lot of difference.

The rest of December can be used to explore directions, by any serious company, while the new year can bear acceleration, to champion artificial intelligence for Africa, taking all the chances, and becoming formidable with scalable use cases globally, bringing the company to the center stage.

Village County Company Limited

AE-0490-3155, Ejisu - Ampabame, Accra - Kumasi Rd, Ejisu, Kumasi, Ghana

ai@vcclafrica.com

+233535118344

https://www.openpr.com/news/3260382/vccl-ghana-exploring-generative-ai-for-food-security-in

https://www.einpresswire.com/article/668145356/vccl-generative-ai-fuel-for-farmers-for-reforestation-in-sub-saharan-africa

https://vcclafrica.com/

About VCCL

Village County Company Limited [CS117950723] is an AI and agribusiness innovation outfit, based in Kumasi, Ghana.

We have a vision to champion new paradigms for West Africa's AI innovation towards 2030, becoming the center of gravity for architecture on directions of advantage to win the future for West Africa.

This release was published on openPR.