Prior to the coming of Europeans and establishment of colonial banking systems, Africans had sustained diverse informal credit systems rooted in their socio-economic and cultural practices. These systems were rotating savings and credit associations, kinship and lineage-based lending, merchant credit, pawnship, and cooperative arrangements organised through age grades, guilds, and religious institutions. Credit transactions were thus regulated by trust, reciprocity, and customary law, with social reputation functioning as the primary form of security rather than formal collateral. Informal credit played significant role in financing agriculture, long-distance trade, artisanal production, and household consumption. Despite their accessibility and adaptability, these systems also reflected social hierarchies and power imbalances that could lead to exploitative outcomes. The introduction of colonial banking and legal framework marginalised indigenous financial practices by privileging western institutions and written contracts. This study adopted a qualitative historical methodology based on primary and secondary sources to examine the structure, functions, and limitations of pre-colonial African credit systems. The findings, thereafter highlights the resilience of informal finance and its enduring relevance to contemporary discussion on inclusion in Africa.
Keywords: Financial Inclusion, colonial banking, indigenous finance, informal credit systems
