| South Africa | SA fintech startup Yoco launches new card machine. Yoco has launched the Yoco Go, a card machine targeting underserved small businesses that don't have access to card payment and point of sale (PoS) technologies. The introduction of Yoco Go is a critical element of the startup’s growth strategy of doubling its merchant base over the next 12 months. Disrupt Africa |
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| Global | American Express launches Pay with Bank Transfer. The financial services company plans to roll out a new real-time product that will let U.K. consumers pay for goods and services online. By harnessing open banking rules, the Pay with Bank Transfer option will let sellers receive real-time payments from the customers of leading U.K banks. Buyers will be able to check their account balances and make online payments. PYMNTS |
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| Nigeria | Airtel Nigeria reverts to end user billing system for USSD. In response to pressure from the CEOs of the Money Deposit Bank in Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria has dumped the newly introduced corporate level billing for USSD services. The corporate level billing for the USSD services forced the banks to adhere to NGN4.5 (~1 cent) per USSD session of 20 seconds. This amounted to about 450% increase in tariff. Financial Technology Africa |
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| Ghana | Thales to support Ghana's financial inclusion drive. Thales, a France-based financial technology company, has partnered with Paycode to supply dual card technology to Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS). Thales' technology will enhance the functionality of the e-zwich biometric card. IOL |
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| Morocco | Moroccan telecom operator Inwi launches mobile money service. Inwi Money is a service that uses Mobiquity Money, the digital money platform from Comviva. The new service allows consumers to perform multiple financial transactions including person-to-person money transfer, airtime purchase, bill payments, and merchant payments. IT News Africa |
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| Kenya | Kenya's PesaLink transactions hit Sh220b (~ $2.2 billion). Kenya Bankers Association launched PesaLink through its subsidiary Integrated Payments Services Ltd (IPSL) in 2017 to facilitate real-time inter-bank transactions. The application enables customers to transfer cash from their own account to accounts held in other banks, using their mobile phones. About Sh220 billion (~$2.2 billion) has been moved through PesaLink this year, which is more than double the Sh87 billion (~ $838 million) from the same time last year. Standard Media |
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| Kenya | Kenyans digitally moved Sh23.96bn (~$230 million) daily in Q2 of 2019. Data from Kenya's Communications Authority shows 103 mobile money transactions are being carried out per second in the country, a 92% rise from the same period last year. Active mobile money subscriptions increased to Sh32.6 million(~$313,885) from Sh29.6 million (~$285,000) in 2018. The Star |
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| Africa | Cellulant’s Mula rebrands to Tingg, launches payments super app. The pan-African payments firm has been working to bring bill payments, remittances, lending, and group investments into one app in its 8 markets across Africa. The firm has also announced a major rebrand of its consumer brand from Mula to Tingg, a unified platform that will offer a comprehensive list of digital financial services. Techmoran |
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| Twitter | Who will bear the cost of CBN's new stamp duty taxes? Ope Adeoye () looks into the implication of the new tax in . this tweet |
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| South Africa | South Africans to brace for nationwide bank strike. The South African Society of Bank Officials (SASBO) which comprises of 50,000 members is set to undertake a nationwide strike. The union wants to highlight job loss and retrenchment due to digitalization in the South African banking sector. IT News Africa |
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| Nigeria | Nigerian banking sector records 711.29 million transactions in Q2 2019. A total volume of 711,299,990 transactions valued at N40.48trn (~$112 billion) was recorded in Q2 2019 on electronic payment channels in Nigeria. Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Instant Payments (NIP) transactions dominated the transactions recorded with 271,344,549 NIP transactions valued at N25.18trn (~$70 billion). Proshare |
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| Nigeria | Nigerian banks fall short of new loans threshold set by the central bank. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in July gave banks until the end of September to show that they use at least 60% of their deposits for loans, or risk being sanctioned. Ahmad Abdullahi, director of banking supervision at the Central Bank of Nigeria said while all banks have attempted to meet the target, some could not. Proshare |
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| Nigeria | Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to convert abandoned offices of Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) into microfinance banks. Abandoned offices of the NIPOST spread across the 774 local government areas in Nigeria will henceforth serve as microfinance banks operated by the CBN. National Daily |
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| Nigeria | Electronic payment transactions rise to N231tn (~$637.4 billion) in Nigeria. The total value of transactions through various electronic payment channels in the country has risen sharply by 103% to a total of N231.247 trillion (~$637.4 billion) as of June 2019, compared with the N138.672 trillion (~$382.6 billion) recorded in the whole of 2018. The figures were contained in the latest industry e-payment data for the half year 2019 obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Mobile Money Africa |
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| Zimbabwe | Zimbabwe's 2% tax on electronic transactions stays. Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said the 2% tax on mobile money and electronic transactions will remain in place despite a High Court ruling this week against the legal instrument behind the levy. This has triggered a debate in Zimbabwe over the implications of the ruling, particularly because parliament fast-tracked the promulgation of the Finance Act of 2019, which also makes provision for the tax. IT Web Africa |
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| Kenya | Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA)'s M-Pesa plan receives mixed reactions. Safaricom, a major mobile network operator headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. has said it is ready to open its M-Pesa accounts for scrutiny but only if this is backed by law. KRA recently indicated its plans to track individual M-Pesa accounts to catch tax cheats. The Star |
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| Nigeria | National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) gives approval to 26 insurance firms. A circular released by NAICOM revealed that out of 49 companies that applied for recapitalisation, only 26 of them were given the approval to proceed. NAICOM said it was committed to making sure that the recapitalisation roadmap was achieved in line with the best interest of all stakeholders. Nairametrics |
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| Ghana | Western Union partners with MTN to launch mobile money remittance in Ghana. Western Union (remittance company) and MTN (telco) have come together to enable customers in Ghana receive Western Union money transfers into their MTN Mobile Money wallets. Business Ghana |
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| Nigeria | WorldRemit launches a new service in Nigeria. International money transfer platform, WorldRemit, has launched a new service which will allow Nigerians receive remittances from the diaspora in cash across multiple bank branches across the country. In addition to Nigeria, WorldRemit’s cash pick-up option is available in a number of African countries including Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, and Morocco. Techcabal |
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| Global | TransferWise launches TransferWise for banks in the U.S. with Novo. The launch of the product will allow banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions to integrate TransferWise’s API directly into their infrastructure, so customers can make international payments from within their banking app. Tearsheet |
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| Zambia | Zambian fintech startup Zazu raises $1.4m. Launched in October 2015, Zazu originally allowed farmers with extra produce connect with new markets, but pivoted into the digital banking space in 2017. The $1.4 million in funding, which comes from undisclosed sources, will help Zazu expand its team and better market its product to grow its user base. Disrupt Africa |
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