South Africa | Vodacom and Mastercard partner to launch a digital wallet and payments app called VodaPay Masterpass. VodaPay Masterpass, currently available only for Vodacom users, lets customers load any bank card into a secure digital wallet. The app also lets customers scan a QR code to pay for items where Masterpass is accepted. Memeburn |
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Ghana | MTN Ghana to digitize merchant payment across the country. General Manager for MTN Mobile Money Limited has stated that the aim of the MTN mobile money service is to digitize merchant payments, especially in the informal sector. He also called on the Ghanaian government and other stakeholders to provide a centralised national identification system for easy tracking of customers. Ghana Web |
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Zimbabwe | Zimbabwean mobile money transactions rise 11.5% to $1.17 billion in Q1 2019. Volumes of mobile money payments in the country are expected to maintain an upward trend due to the significant increase in the number of financial services offered on mobile money platforms. Of the $1.17 billion processed in the quarter, Ecocash processed 99.4% of the total value of transactions. Telecash and OneMoney processed 0.1% and 0.5% respectively. NewsDay |
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Global | Mastercard set to launch a new service designed to make it easier for B2B vendors to accept virtual cards. The service, called Virtual Card Receivables Service, is a tool to digitize the virtual card payment acceptance and reconciliation process for businesses. The service is available to fintech and financial institutions that can extend the offering to their own corporate customers. PYMNTS |
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Global | Google Chrome now syncs saved payment options across devices. Google announced that it will allow signed-in Chrome users to fill in checkout forms with payment methods previously saved to their Google Account. Google notes that the new payment method syncing is entirely optional and saved cards can be managed and deleted in the Payment Methods menu from the Google Account settings dashboard. Venturebeats |
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Nigeria | Nurture Technology launches Moneybag.ng Moneybag.ng is an online financial services platform that provides savings, investments, and loans as services to its users. Some of the company’s partners currently include Interswitch, GTbank, FBN General Insurance, Moneyline, and Primera Micro-Finance Bank. Daily Trust |
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Kenya | Banks, Safaricom commit money to Afro-Asia Fintech Festival 2019. The funds will go into supporting the fintech summit being hosted by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The event seeks to bring together over 5,000 participants made up of policy makers, entrepreneurs, and researchers across the world. The event is modeled after the Singapore Fintech Festival. Business Today |
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Nigeria | Opera-founded startup OPay raises $50M for mobile finance in Nigeria. OPay, an Africa-focused mobile payments startup founded by Norwegian browser company Opera, has raised $50 million in funding. Lead investors include Sequoia China, IDG Capital and Source Code Capital. Opera also joined the round in the payments venture it created. OPay will use the capital primarily to grow its digital finance business in Nigeria. Techcrunch |
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Egypt | Egyptian payments company Fawry to IPO within next few weeks. Fawry, the leading Egyptian electronic payments company, will go public by listing its shares on Egyptian Exchange. The company will reportedly list 455 of its shares on the Egyptian Exchange before Aug 8, raising between EGP 2 to 2.5 billion (~$ 120 to 150 million). Fawry was founded in 2008 and currently offers over 250 electronic payment services through its 100,000 service points across 300 cities in the country. Menabytes |
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Zambia | Zambian asset finance firm Rent To Own (RTO) raises £1 million in seed capital. RTO provides high impact assets to rural entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers in Zambia. The company does this by offering an all-in-one package of un-collateralized financing, delivery, installation, and equipment training to its customers. The investment will be used primarily as working capital to double the company’s portfolio of rural Zambian entrepreneurs. Techmoran |
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Nigeria | The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reviewed its guidelines to banks on accessing Standing Deposit Facility (SDF). The remunerable SDF placement for banks is now capped at N2 billion. This means that Banks will not be remunerated for SDF placements above the stipulated maximum of N2 billion. This new guideline, coupled with the recent regulation is an attempt to get banks to give more loans to individuals and SMEs. Proshare |
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Kenya | Kenyan regulators oppose Parliament's plan to split M-Pesa. Mobile and financial sector regulators have warned Parliament about its plan to split the popular money transfer service, M-Pesa, from telecoms giant Safaricom. Members of Parliament want the mobile money services arm of the company to be licensed as banks, while the telecommunications arm will be licensed to only offer voice, data and SMS services. Business Daily |
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Kenya | Kenyan government shuts down SportPesa, 27 betting companies. The Kenyan government has directed mobile money service providers; Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom Kenya to withdraw pay bill numbers and SMS codes of 27 betting companies. Some of the affected betting companies include SportPesa, Betin, and Betway. The affected firms are said to have failed to prove that they were tax compliant as required by the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB). The Kenyan Weekly |
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Global | Banks, Governments show continued resistance to Facebook’s Libra. According to reports, many traditional banking institutions and governments have shown skepticism, silence, and resistance to Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency Libra. Many cited the obvious regulatory issues involved with identification and money laundering, while others say they don’t like how Facebook introduced the coin. Some banks have plans for cryptocurrencies of their own and are solely focused on that. PYMNTS |
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Global | Visa Invests In crypto storage innovator Anchorage. Visa co-led the funding round along with digital currency-focused venture capital firm Blockchain Capital. Anchorage’s offering provides an alternative to “cold storage,” where private keys are tucked away in offline locations that are hard to find, such as bank safety deposit boxes or inside of mountains. Anchorage was not well known until June 18, when its logo appeared on a slide unveiling the Libra Association. PYMNTS |
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