| Africa | MFS Africa partners with Western Union for cross-border payments. Through this partnership, Western Union customers will be able to send money directly to banks and mobile money wallets within the MFS Africa network. The service will be launched in Madagascar and later rolled out to other African countries. PYMNTS |
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| Global | WhatsApp Payments approved by the Central Bank of Brazil. WhatsApp, the global messaging app owned by Meta, has received approval from the Central Bank of Brazil to enable customers to make payments to merchants. Finextra |
| | EDITOR'S NOTE | WhatsApp's continued expansion in payments will likely face stiff competition from players like Pix, Brazil’s leading instant payment service. However, with its massive user base and the convenience of integrating payments into its messaging app, WhatsApp has the potential to disrupt the payments industry and become a major player in the space.
Although this is currently limited to Brazil, Meta had previously announced plans to expand its payment solutions worldwide. It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds in Brazil and beyond. We’ll monitor the success of the product in Brazil and its expansion into other markets. |
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| Kenya | M-Pesa announces cross-border partnership with Amazon. Kenyan mobile money giant M-Pesa has announced a new worldwide partnership with Amazon. While the exact details are still unclear, M-Pesa will reportedly engage in remittance services for Amazon. This follows an earlier agreement between the two parties to make M-Pesa available as a checkout option on Amazon. Kenyan Wall Street |
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| Kenya | Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) grants regulatory approval to Fingo Africa. The CBK has given approval to Fingo Africa, a Kenyan-based digital bank, to roll out financial products in Kenya. This follows a partnership between Fingo and Ecobank to launch Fingo products first in Kenya, and then to other African countries. Nation |
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| Africa | Nigeria and South Africa placed on money laundering grey list. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global watchdog for money laundering and terrorist financing, has included Nigeria and South Africa on their money laundering grey list. Countries placed on the grey list are required by the FATF to address observed anti-money laundering shortcomings. They might also experience heightened scrutiny and increased risk checks when conducting international financial transactions. TechCabal |
| | EDITOR'S NOTE | As stated above, the FATF’s grey listing could potentially impact financial institutions in these two countries. This includes an increase in the cost of compliance, more international transaction failures, and a decrease in capital inflow. The last point can be particularly punitive for fintechs in a period of already scarce capital.
Thankfully, being on the grey list is not a permanent status for listed countries. As these countries work to implement the FATF recommendations, they can expect to be delisted in the future. |
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| Nigeria | How do you optimise payment operations in your Nigerian fintech? Benjamin Dada (@DadaBen_) brilliantly illustrates how fintechs can seek direct connections with payment partners to reduce transaction costs and improve payment operations. Twitter |
| | EDITOR'S NOTE | This is one of the points we noted last week in our deep dive into pricing for financial services in Africa. |
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| Global | Visa and Mastercard pause planned crypto partnerships. The global payments giants have reversed plans to launch new crypto-related products and services. This comes after the collapse of several high-profile crypto firms. Reuters |
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| Kenya | Workpay raises $2.7 million Pre-Series A funding. Workpay, a Kenyan HR and payroll startup, has completed a $2.7 million Pre-Series A funding round. The new round included investments from Launch Africa, Saviu Ventures, and Norrsken, and will be used for geographic expansion and new product development. TechMoran |
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| Egypt | Hollydesk raises $1 million in debt funding. Hollydesk, an Egyptian expense management platform, has secured $1 million in debt from undisclosed investors. The funding will be used to expand product offerings and deepen market penetration in Egypt. Wamda |
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| Guinea | YMO raises $3.2 million in funding. Guinean mobile payments and banking startup, YMO, has raised a $3.2 million funding round. The round included investments from Breega and INCO Ventures and will be used to drive product development and geographic expansion across West Africa. Tech Nova |
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Share a tip | Do you have an announcement, event, or job posting you'd like to share, or have you come across an interesting bit of African fintech news recently? Hit reply and let me know! I might be able to include it in next week's newsletter. |
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